The Life of a Hunter
by Rainbowlalaland
Summary: Ayanna enters the Hunters Exam to further her training, once there, the exuberant girl makes fast friends with Gon and Killua. Follow her on her adventure through the exam and the following chapters. KilluaXOC
1. First Phase

This is my first Fanfiction on this sight, I have a few others on Quizilla (but they are absolutely horrible...horrible I tell you) I gave up on trying to salvage those.

Well, I would love reviews, and I don't really have a summary yet...because I still don't know exactly where I'm going with this story yet...when I figure it out I'll add the summary in here somewhere.

xP

As of April 25, 2011 I went back and edited this chapters... it didn't change the plot or anything...so if you've already read it and don't want to reread it then that is fine...I just made it easier to read.

Well ENJOY!

XP

* * *

I stepped off the elevator that was previously decorated as a dining room attached to the restaurant leading to the Hunters Examination, and I saw a room filled with bulky, pea-minded men. Well maybe calling them pea-minded is a little harsh, I mean, it's not like I was brightest crayon in the box. Besides, it looked like there were some decent, plain out scary looking, people here.

The plated number pinned to the fabric of my red knee length coat called attention to the rooms' newest occupant: me. I must have been quite the sight, my drenched hood laying in a messy fashion on my head, leaving water to drip down my face and onto the floor. I was already standing in a puddle and left a trail of water behind me.

Even if it wasn't raining, and hasn't for the past ten days, I still managed to somehow pitch myself headfirst into the nearby lake while looking for this place. My navigator, for some strange reason I can't understand, decided that I'd be fine in a city that I've never been to before in my life and left me to find this place by myself after giving me a small piece of paper telling me the password.

I guess it's needless to say that I got lost and almost didn't, make it here in time for the deadline.

_"Ayanna, I've taught you everything I can. Now it's up to you to go out and learn things through your own ability. The Hunters Exam is coming up in a couple weeks; take it. This is the end of your training, pass the exam, and you graduate from my teachings."_

_I'm confident in my ability to pass the exam; I didn't give up most of my childhood for nothing, you know._

_For five years now, since I was seven, my dad has been teaching me how to fight. Every morning I would wake up before the sun and train my body through endurance tests. My dad found out, despite how I tried to hide it, that I had horrible endurance and that turned out to be the first thing he made me work on. He said that endurance would be the base of my training so it had to be strong enough to hold everything on top of it. I was required to run every day morning to night, or until my dad blew the whistle signaling my speed training was over for the day. We would move onto hand to hand combat for a couple hours and then he'd send me off to bed only to do it all again the next day. It continues like that for three years, alternating between running for a full day to half and half. I have to say, as much as I hated it, it did work. I'm a lot better now than I was before. Now I can pull my pranks and nobody would even know it was me if I didn't want them to!_

"You're a rookie, aren't cha?" A friendly sounding voice spoke from behind me.

My fathers' voice rang through my ears, _"Don't trust anyone, you never know what they might try to pull. Always be on your guard, but don't let them know you suspect them."_

"Mhm, how did you know?" I questioned as I jumped around turned to face him. Is it really that obvious?

He jumped back at my unexpected turn and enthusiasm, "It's my thirty-fifth time this year, I know all the regulars." He said it without any hesitation like he wasn't ashamed in the least. "My names Tonpa, if you have any questions feel free to ask me."

"Thirty-five times," Wow, you must really suck. "Is the exam really that hard?"

He was about to answer but I already lost interest and was now looking for the source of the loud whistle which rang out through the underground cave we were all in.

"As of this moment the exam is closed of any further applicants." A man wearing a purple suit descended from above us where he was most likely watching us mingle with each other. "I would like to officially welcome everyone here to the hunter exam."…Suspenseful silence…until:

"Alright, it's going to get started!" To my left was a boy probably around my age wearing all green and holding a fishing pole, he was the one who broke the silence first.

"Please come with me," the man, who I think is the examiner, said. He pivoted and walked down the cave like hallway, "Let me just remind you all that the Hunters exam is extremely demanding. In the worst-case scenario, you'll die. If you are alright with accepting those risks then you may continue following me." He gave people a chance to drop out right then, no one did. "Alright then, the number of applicants is 405…at least for now."

Moving quickly I made my way up to the front until I was standing besides the man in the purple suit, and just as I was about to ask him his name he began to walk faster. I did to. It went on like this until I was in a full-blown run, and then he finally spoke:

"Sorry for the delay, but allow me to introduce myself. I am Satotsu, examiner for the first phase; I am also the one who is leading you to the second phase. Some of you may have realized already but keeping up with me until we reach the second phase is in fact the first phase."

I look up at 'Satotsu' from under my hood and ask the question that's been bothering me since we began the test, "Hey Mr. Examiner, why is the first test one of endurance?"

Said man looked down at me, seeming to rate how far I would go in the exam, before answering, "The examiner who is leading the exam gets to choose how it will work each year. I am testing this group with endurance to eliminate the unfit people."

"So each place is picked out by the examiners?" The man nods so I made a remark on his test. "Does that mean that the examiners differ each year to provide variety in the testing order?"

"Yes, now you should focus more on your running or you'll be tired out and left behind."

I stayed silent only for a couple moments until my boredom set in again. "You know, Mr. Examiner, this test is really boring. Not to mention easy!" I do this every day after all. "I was hoping this thing might have been a little more fun."

"I'm Ayann by the way, just in case you were wondering what to call me."

* * *

"Mr. Examiner, how long have we been running now?" I asked for, what seems like, the hundredth time in the past ten minutes.

"…"

He didn't answer me…again. He was probably tired of all my questions, like that one time my dad got so fed up with my non-stop talking that he gave me the silent treatment for three days!

Sensing that Satotsu was going to do the same I said goodbye and made my way bake into the sea of people behind me.

"You alright?" I heard from a little ways behind me. It was the boy with the fishing rod speaking to his friend, the one with the brief case.

He looked like he would pass out at any moment; he was obviously beyond exhaustion.

"Take this," I handed the man a water bottle that I fished out of my bag. "It'll help," I explained at his questioning glance. "And if you're going to take a break you should probably do it now before you pass out. That's what my dad always said anyway."

He thanked me and I was on my way once again looking for a new running buddy.

"Just between you and me, I'm actually a ninja."

A ninja? Cool! In a moment of excitement I ducked around people as I ran and slowed to a steady pace that matched up to the 'ninjas'.

"You're a ninja! Does that mean you can do cool ninja tricks?" I couldn't keep the smile off my face or the excitement from my voice.

"Of course, I am a ninja after all."

* * *

"So I say to the guy 'you're never going to get anywhere in life if you always give up so easily." Hanzo, the ninja, told the person next to him as I ran on his other side. "Are we there yet, I'm getting hungry."

"You are to? Good I thought I might have been the only one." I exclaimed brightly from besides him.

The man he was talking to, however, did not feel the same, "Are you two kidding me!" Then he proceeded to slow down, or we sped up, I'm not exactly sure.

"So kid, what's your name?"

"Ayanna, but just call me Ayann." We both quickened our pace slightly, to get closer to the examiner. "What's being a ninja like? Do you have any cool weapons that you use?"

"Well it's a lot of hard work. The trainings brutal, I wake up at dawn every morning to train and I finally go to sleep after the sun sets." So it's kind of like what I do. "Yes I have many hidden weapons on my form right now –"

The walls began to rumble and it stopped Hanzo mid sentence, it also stopped the examiner and everyone following him.

"What, are they digging a tunnel or something?" Should have known Hanzo couldn't keep his mouth shut for long.

The stone blue walls were cracking, red light spilling from the damaged rock. The wall exploded. Rock chunks flew and the examinees were forced to dodge the flying objects being hurled at them.

The hot air that came forth reminded me of my trip to the beach with my dad when I was younger. The hot sun warming my skin and giving it a nice sun kissed coloring on the exposed skin. That was a nice day; I'm going to have to do that again eventually.

"What exactly is going on here?" Our examiner, the one with a curling handle bar mustache, asked after four people emerged from the wall.

The boy in green, the man I gave the water to, Blondie, and the boy with the skateboard that had white hair and violet eyes.

"Uhh, haha, I'm sorry, but we had to break through the wall." Green boy answered while rubbing the back of his head, a nervous habit humans have seemed to take upon themselves to do.

"I never said you couldn't destroy the walls, but tell me. How is it that you survived after wandering down the tunnel of hallucination? I'm quite impressed."

"I can't believe it, where'd they get the rookies from this year anyway." Tonpa's voice rang out like a gun shot in the silent hallway, even if he was whispering.

The man I gave water to turned at the sound and wasted no time in stalking forward, "How dare you!" He grasped the front of Tonpa's shirt lifting him slightly off the ground. "I've got a score to settle with you," The Waterman practically growled.

"Stop it, Leorio." Green boy said taking only a step in his direction.

"No way, doesn't this guy just piss you off?" 'Leorio', I think I'm going to stick with 'The Waterman', said.

"The test always has obstacles to overcome," Blondie reasoned.

The Waterman made a sound of disapproval, but even he knew it was true, and let Tonpa go.

"Hey, Mr. Examiner, are we almost done? I'm getting tired of running, and I'm really hungry!" I was once again right next to the examiner, well actually right behind him next to Hanzo, but that's beside the point.

He sighs before answering my question loud enough for everyone to hear. "Well everyone, we're almost into the final stretch. I'm going to pick up the pace."

He did just that, quickly distancing himself from the rest of us and heading towards the patch of light up ahead of us. We only have to run up a large hill…and then some, but it will be worth it…

I hope.


	2. Second Part of First Phase

Here you go..I'm sorry for the past, present switches in this part, I was trying to get the point across, but I don't know how well I did.

Well...

**ENJOY!**

**XP**

* * *

We were running through a marsh, swamp like thing. Our examiner said it was called Numele Swamp, or Swindler's Roost. It had really weird creatures that the others called Magical Beasts that continued to attack us but so far none of them had tried to trick us…like the back at the gates tried to do.

* * *

_"There are many creatures unique to these wetlands. Many of them are crafty and veracious; they'll try to deceive you and make you their next meal." He paused, letting the information sink in, then continued. "Follow me and stay focused, if you are deceived you are as good as dead."_

_"That doesn't make any sense. How will they deceive us if we already know that's what we're trying to do?"_

_…_

_"He's lying! Don't listen to him!" A rugged looking man holding the corpse of some type of monkey that strongly resembled our examiner stumbled onto the deck like platform we were all standing on._

_Whispers broke on in the crowd:_

_"Hey, –"_

_"Who's that?"_

_"What is he holding?"_

_Well you get the idea._

_The rugged looking man pointed a finger at our examiner and said twelve words that shook up the crowd of examinees, "He's not an examiner. He's an imposter! The real examiner is me!"_

_"An imposter, what's going on here?" The Waterman asked._

_"Yeah, then who have we been following?" Can Hanzo go even ten minuets without talking? No, I don't think he can._

_"He's a fake?" A man from the back of the crowd called._

_"No way. We've been following a fake this whole time?"_

_"If he's not the real examiner, then who is?"_

_The whispers grew into shouts but the two 'examiners' didn't pay them much attention. They just carried on in their stare down._

_That was until..._

_"Are you making this up, or what? Can you prove this guys an imposter?" Well I have to give the Waterman some props for that one. I wouldn't have expected him of all people to standing in the middle of the examiners staring contest._

_"Take a look at this," and he threw down the monkey thing he had in his hand._

_And again people began talking._

_"What is that thing!"_

_"Is it a magical beast?"_

_"Hey, look at its face. It looks just like the examiners."_

_"Yeah, that's right. It's a man-faced ape, one of the creatures that live in these wetlands. They disguise themselves as humans in order to lure in and trap their prey. This guys no examiner, he's one of them!" The man who claimed to be our real examiner said._

_"How do we know you aren't a man-faced ape that's trying to deceive us and then lure us into your trap? I mean, you sure know a lot about them." I whispered from my spot behind the examiner, he glanced back at me but my eyes stayed glued to the scene in front of me. No one besides him seemed to hear e though and they carried on as if I hadn't spoken._

_"He wants to kill and eat every last one of you, that was his plan all along." The rugged looking man points to Mr. Examiner again._

_"What the!"_

_"Come to think of he it he does look like one, but it's hard to tell for sure."_

_"Yeah, and down in the tunnels his stamina was inhuman. We were all dieing in there but he hardly broke a sweat!"_

_I shifted behind the examiner even more. A crowd of exhausted men that are all mad isn't a good thing to get involved in._

_The all walked forward._

_I grabbed the back of our examiners coat._

_Another step._

_I tightened my grip._

_Another step._

_"So what do you think, is this part of the Hunters exam?" Green boy asked innocently. He didn't even seem to notice that he stopped the mob in its tracks._

_'That boy…really is something else.' Was the only thought going through my mind as I let go of Mr. Examiners coat and took a step back. Well that and how much I want some candy._

* * *

After the Green boy made his comment Blondie said something about a hunters license card, and that's when I spaced out.

I remember Hisoka; I think that was his name, killing the man-faced ape and the man who claimed to be our examiner with some cards. Then some people talking about how they knew it all along.

"Hey, Ninja man! Wait for me!" Hanzo was already disappearing in the thick mist ahead of me. This is why I try not to think about things…I get distracted. Exactly the thing Mr. Examiner told us not to do. I ran and caught up with the runners in the back of the group. I couldn't push my way past them, the crowd was to dense.

"Kurapica! Leorio! Killua says we should move up to the front of the pack."

Wasn't the Waterman's name Leorio? Does that mean Green boy is yelling advice to his friends, so that everybody can hear?

And, I repeat, that boy really is something else.

"Well duh, don't you think I would have already done that if I could?" I think it was the Waterman who replied.

I decided to try to find him. Traveling in numbers is a smarter strategy than trying to hack my way through this marsh alone.

The mist got thicker.

The numbers went down.

A scream rang through the wetlands.

My scream was next.

In front of me was…

A really cute puppy!

"Aww, what's a little thing like you doing out here all alone?" I asked as I knelt down to let it sniff my hand.

It did. It also cuddled up to my leg. The puppy was small and black. It had big brown eyes which matched the spots on his fluffy coat of fur, and he had his tongue hanging out. He licked me!

If anyone saw me right now they would probably see hearts in my eyes…creepy.

I gently picked the dog up and carried it as I ran to catch up with the others. "Now what should I call you? I know. I'll call you Lucky!" I shifted Lucky in my arms. Have you ever noticed how hard it was to carry something in your arms while running? No? Well let me tell you this. It's hard.

More screams rang out and I turned in their direction. Go towards the screams and find more people, danger to? Or away from the screams and get eaten all by myself?

I chose the people. Who cares about the danger?

"That's brutal, you didn't have to do that!" I heard a shout and ran towards it.

"I'm just playing examiner. I thought I could control myself until at least the second phase, but I found myself getting bored."

"You have no right calling you're self a hunter! When I'm through with you, your going to be wishing you never heard of the exam!"

"Is that so? I'm reasonably sure I can take you call out, with just one card."

I stayed hidden behind a tree, peeking out at what was happening only a hundred feet away.

Hisoka was here? And he was going to kill all the others?

What do I do?

Do I try and stop him?

No. That would be suicide.

Do I just wait?

…

My answer was made for me as i heard the screams of people being murdered ringing through the silence.


	3. Second Phase: Hunt For The Pig!

Well this is the third part...I hope you enjoy it!

Sorry it took so long to get it out, I was in the middle of school testing -.-

Oh and none of these characters belong to me except for Ayanna, and possibly some new characters along the way...farther into the story =P

Well please review and tell me what you think so I can have an idea of what I need to fix to make future chapter more enjoyable and easier to read.

**And onto the story:**

* * *

"Lucky!" I shouted as the little dog jumped from my arms and ran towards the blue haired magician.

Hisoka, he is a man that reminds me of a clown. Granted it was a very sadistic clown, but still a clown. His blue hair waved slightly and his makeup stood out brightly against his pale skin, the pale orange star on his left cheek and the red water droplet on his right.

Said man looked at the dog, got a card ready, and flicked it, effortlessly, towards the unsuspecting puppy.

It was too bad I was already prepared.

A wooden arrow, rich brown in color, shot from the tree's cover and knocked the card off its path.

A few second later the dog was gone as well as the arrow.

I cradled the puppy in my arms and slid the arrow back into the quiver on my back.

"I see ~ I see ~" The magician said in a voice that I can't even begin to describe.

He took a step towards me and I froze in my kneeling position from fear. I couldn't move. It felt like my body was glued it place by extra sticky super glue!

"Your fight is with me!" A man I hadn't noticed yelled and ran forward. He had a club like stick in his hands branding it a weapon. His short black hair was spiked and his small black glasses were low on his nose. His shirt was discarded…somewhere, and he had a purple cloth tied around his left arm. The number 403 shone from the white number plate on his chest. It was the Waterman. I think I have a new-found respect for him…I might even begin to call him by his name soon.

Hisoka jumped over the branch Waterman swung and landed a couple feet away. He could have killed number 403 in an instant, but he chose to scare him first. The stick in Waterman's hands was sliced into six separate pieces.

Hisoka grabbed onto Waterman's face and I saw his lips move, however, I couldn't hear what was said. He readied a card…but never got a chance to use it. His head was forced back and his body followed.

A red ball had hit him.

A ball attached to a fishing pole…

A fishing pole in the hands of a boy…

A boy wearing all green.

"Gon!" The Waterman yelled in surprise, and was that a little fear? More importantly what was he doing here? He was up near Mr. Examiner with that white haired boy.

"Oh, that's pretty good for a boy. A fishing rod as a weapon, interesting~" Hisoka said in that creepy voice again. He started walking towards Green boy, no, Gon. He earned the use of his real name. His pace was steady and from my position I could see Gon shaking slightly. "Can I see it? I promise I'll give it right back~"

Another step:

"Hey, clown! You're fighting me!" His declaration was met with a hard punch to the face, knocking him out cold.

"Waterman!"

"Leorio!" Gon shouted and instantly sprang into action.

He ran forward and jumped, trying to hit Hisoka with his fishing rod.

It didn't work.

Hisoka dodged it at the last second and clamped his hand around Gon's throat.

"Gon!" I didn't notice I screamed until after the sound left my mouth.

My scream went unnoticed by the two, well three if you count the unconscious body, people in the center of the clearing.

"Did you come back hoping to save your friend? What a nice boy." I couldn't see Gon's face from the angle I was at but I could see the sudden smile on Hisoka's. "I'd say you passed."

He let go of Gon:

"My goodness, did you come to the rescue as well?" How did he notice Blondie behind him? Oh wait he's a magician, never mind~. "I'm impressed. It must be nice to have such good friends~"

His phone rang: "Yes…Ok, I'll be right there."

He put his phone away, and walked towards the sleeping man.

"...Leorio!" Gon yelled.

"No need to worry, I haven't killed you're friend yet. After all, he passed to." Hisoka tossed Waterman onto his shoulders.

"What are you talking about? Put him down! Right now!"

"Hmm, well if you really want him back you'll have to catch me first." Hisoka ran off into the surrounding trees without a backwards glance.

Gon stayed standing for a second before falling to his knees:

"Gon, are you alright?" Blondie asked while running over to the fallen boy.

"I'm fine…Hey, what's your name?" He finally noticed me sitting at the corner of the clearing.

"Ayanna, are you ok? Gon, Blondie?" I shakily stood up still clutching the puppy to my chest and walked forward to stand next to them.

"Blondie…? Oh, you must mean Kurapica!"

"Kura – pica? So that means the Waterman's name is Leorio?" I just wanted to clarify it.

"Yeah, well lets go catch up to Leorio!" Gon shouted and took off towards the trees.

The two boys stopped when they noticed I wasn't following them, "What's wrong? Aren't you coming?"

"You mean I can come with you?" He's inviting me to come with him? He only just met me!

"Of course," He replied and waited for me to catch up.

"So how old are you, Ayanna?" Gon asked me a couple minuets into our run.

"I'm twelve, and just call me Ayann please. How old are you, Gon?"

"I'm twelve too!"

We ran a little longer, "This way!" Gon shouted after he sniffed the air.

"How can you be so sure?" Kurapica asked. Yeah, Kurapica earned the right of his own name to.

"Hm, it's the cologne Leorio uses. I'd know it anywhere!"

'_It's like he's a dog…' _

Gon continued, "And also, it looks like Hisoka left a trail of dead animals. They must have tried to attack him. We can just follow them."

Kurapica starts, "But we should still be careful Hisoka's devious, he might have just let us go so he could hunt us down one more time."

"Yeah, but still, we can't just leave Leorio right?" Gon didn't really make it a question, more like a statement in question form.

"Don't worry, Gon. I'm sure Leorio will be fine, Hisoka did say we passed after all." I hoped to be reassuring.

"I wanted to ask about that, back there after the fight, Hisoka said that me and Leorio passes. What do you think he mean?"

"He said he was playing examiner," I started.

Kurapica finished, "Which probably means he was testing us."

"You really think so? All he ever did was just stare at me."

"Yeah, but that was after you hit him in the heard with your fishing rod."

* * *

Gon, Kurapica and I all arrived at the second phase sight a couple minuets before the phase actually started. Well actually I ran a little ahead of the two when I saw my ninja friend.

"Ninja man, you left me behind! What's the deal, I thought we were friends!" I shouted while attacking him with a flying hug. "You're really mean Mr. Ninja, I had to hide from Hisoka and then Lucky got this really smart idea to run _towards _Hisoka so I had to save the little thing and still try not to be killed by the crazy clown. Ahh, I mean not crazy clown. I meant to say Hisoka uh huh, uh huh" … "Hey, where'd Lucky go?"

By now almost everybody was staring at me like I was some type of alien, or maybe thinking I was as crazy as Hisoka…Naw, that's impossible. I'm not as crazy as that sadistic clown!

I untangled myself from the ninja and dropped to the ground. The white haired boy stayed staring out into the forest, probably waiting for Gon.

"I know he's just a kid but he should know better. By turning back to save his friends he ruined his own chances." Ninja say what?

"What are you talking about? Gon and Kurapica are right there," I pointed into the trees where they emerged. "Is that why you didn't come back for me? That means you are still my friend? But maybe Gon would be a better friend then a ninja who doesn't know how to stop talking and save his friends. I mean, even Gon went back to save his friends and made it back…Are you weaker than Gon, Hanzo?"

The ninja looked shocked that I could even consider calling him weaker than a twelve year old boy, but hey, he's the one that left a poor, innocent, twelve year old girl all alone in a marsh to get eaten by all the creepy _unique_ creatures of this area called Numele Swamp. It should be called, 'Bring me here ever again and I'll kill every last one of you'.

A loud bang, the sound of a gun, went off as soon as Gon and Kurapica reached the white haired boy.

"Ok, that's it. You've all made it, good job." Mr. Examiner said while holding a gun in the air.

I looked back at the spot Gon and Kurapica were previously standing but saw nothing but air…where'd they go?

Well I guess this as good of time as any to meet that white haired boy.

"Hi, I'm Ayann. What's your name?"

He just looks at me. His teal eyes not even blinking…

"Or am I going to have to call you that white haired boy every time I want to get your attention or refer to you~" Oh, maybe that's why those guy's were looking at me like I had two heads, I do sound like Hisoka! Creepy thoughts…

"Killua."

"How old are you Killua? I'm twelve. You don't look that much older than me so you have to be somewhere around there to. Isn't Gon twelve to? I thought he said he was, oh well, I forgot."

"You talk a lot."

"Yeah, and you're really quite. You never answered my question."

"Which one?"

"How old are you?"

"Twelve," He said and looked at me like I was bothering him, which I probably am, but I'm bored and I can't find Ninja man, Gon or Kurapica.

"Are you excited about the Hunters Exam? We passed the first part so now we only have…however many more there are! Why are you taking the exam anyway?"

"I had nothing better to do. I thought it'd be fun, but it's turning out to be really boring. Why are you so excited about it?"

"My dad –"

Another shot rang into the air successfully cutting me off.

"At this point I'd like to offer my congratulations to each and every one of you." The examiner starts. "All of you that stand before me have passed the first phase of the exam. I'd like to wish you all the best of luck in the second phase." He then proceeded to walk away.

I noticed Gon on the other side of Killua, "Hey Gon, are you ready for the next part?"

"This is so cool, I can't wait!" Gon said in excitement.

"You made it…what kind of special power did you use? For awhile there I was pretty convinced you weren't going to make it back." Killua said softly, I wonder if his voice is naturally that soft…it's not normal for a boy.

"He tracked Leorio's cologne," I murmured staring at the boy in disbelief. I was with him and I still don't get how he did it.

Killua had a disbelieving look on his face, with wide eyes, "What, you tracked Leorio's cologne?"

Gon made a sound of agreement.

"Oh man, you really are a weird one, you know that." And to go along with what he claimed Killua's mouth twitched. I could only imagine what he was thinking:

"It's like he's part dog or something." I whispered from my spot next to Killua.

He nodded.

* * *

Loud grumbling sounds came from behind the warehouse doors, "Hey, Killua, what do you think that sound is?"

He just looked at me with a deadpanned face, "How am I supposed to know?"

"…Because I don't?" He just continued to look at me, "Well, I hope we don't have to wait to much longer. I'm getting really bored, and I'm still hungry. I hope they'll feed us soon."

The doors opened with a loud creak. The contents of the room were shaded in the darkness surrounding the lifted door. Two shadows figures sat on the darkened couch.

One had a slight figure sat on the cream colored couch. Pink hair was done up in five pigtails tied with a yellow ribbon, and blue eyes shined with mischief. She wore a short sleeve fishnet shirt over a red bikini like top and blue jean shorts. Her legs were crossed and on her feet were two red knee length boots with a pink ribbon at the top.

Behind her sat a ginormous man with short black hair wearing a blue short sleeve shirt.

The sight of the two left the exam participants silent.

"Thanks for waiting. Buhara, how are you feeling now? Hungry?" The pink haired girl said with a playful drawl.

"Yeah Menchi, I think anybody that has ears can hear that I'm starving." 'Buhara' said in a slightly pained voice…he was probably hungry.

"As you may have guessed, us two Gourmet Hunters are in charge of judging the second phase." 'Menchi' said while lifting her hands to give emphasis to…I don't know exactly what.

Gourmet what?

"Gourmet Hunters?" Leorio asked.

Gon must have felt the need to clarify, "What's that?"

From my spot to Killua's right I saw Kurapica straighten up, it's Kurapica's time to shine!

"Gourmet Hunter's travel around the world collecting all sorts of extrinsic ingredients. They then use them to create new and innovative dishes that have never been tasted. Before becoming hunters most of them were gourmet chefs."

"So that means…" I stated at the same time Hanzo said:

"So then, this phase –"

"Right, so the subject for this phase is cooking." Her declaration was met with shouts of protest and uproar.

"_Cooking!"_

"Humph, you've got to be kidding me. I didn't come all this way to cook." A big man, with the number tag 255 on his chest said. "That's for sure."

Menchi retorted in a dry tone while pointing her finger at the offending participant, "If you don't like it then you can go ahead and leave right now." He reeled back. "Does anybody else want to complain about the test? If so then you can do it on your way home."

I could hear a lot of people behind me muttering about this test being ridicules and thinking this 'Menchi' girl wasn't qualified to test us.

"That's funny I don't seem to hear any objections now," the pink haired girl said looking down at her lap.

Hanzo spoke up, it's not like he could hold his tongue for _that_ long. "So, uh, what kind of food are we going to have to cook?"

Buhara spoke for the first time, if you don't count him saying he was hungry. "First of all you're going to have to cook what ever dish I decide to order."

Menchi takes over the instruction process, "Only those of you who have managed to fill his order will be asked to fill a dish of my choice after that. Basically what it comes down to is this, if we both think your food is delicious, you pass."

255 spoke up again, "That's not fair! What tastes good to me might taste like garbage to someone else!"

"Yeah, how are we supposed to know what type of food you like? We might make the most delicious food ever and still get kicked out!" Number 198, one of those three brothers that fight on a team I think, spoke.

Menchi let the protests go on for a little longer, I think she was just letting them get it out of their systems. Then she stood up and clapped her hands together to get the others attention, "All right, that's enough. Like I said a minuet ago, if you have any objections to the test you're more than welcome to go home.

Leorio made one of his not turning back declarations again, and again, people agreed with him.

Fights were beginning to brew between the riled up participants, but somehow Gon and Killua stayed completely indifferent to it and even continued to ask about the test.

"So, is there any thing else we need to know?"

"Hmm," Menchi gathered her thoughts, most likely dispelling the on coming head ache that these men have caused, before answering. "All you need to know is that you don't pass until we say delicious. Please bare in mind that this phase is finished as soon as the to of us are full from eating."

The two judges let us digest that fact for a couple minuets:

"Ok, listen up, my order is…a whole roasted pig." Drool began to fall from Buhara's mouth.

'_A whole roasted pig! Is that even possible?'_

"It's my absolute favorite, and living in the forest is The Great Stamp, the most ferocious and delicious pig of them all."

As is they rehearsed, a heard of pigs, which I presume is The Great Stamp, ran through the clearing.

_'Why do i have to make food or them. I was the one saying I was hungry! Fate has a way of being cruel to the unsuspecting I guess'_

* * *

Even though I just ran a marathon I'm, once again, running. Only this time it's for my life. A giant grey pig with a big snout is chasing after me. I'm tired, and hungry, I won't last much longer. Not running at my top speed. I need to figure out a way to defeat it so I can cook it before it finds a way to eat me!

"Leorio," I heard Gon shout from a distance. "Hit it on its head, that's its most vulnerable spot!"

'_I swear that kid's got something wrong with his head…but it is helping me out, so…'_

I changed path quickly and came across Killua sanding next to a dead boar, "Hey Killua! You already killed yours? Good job! I'll talk to you later; I'm kind of busy right now. Bye!" I'm not exactly sure if he heard the last part because I was already quite a distance away from him, but if he didn't it's no big deal.

"Hey Ninja man! Why are you standing there?" I asked while running towards said man.

He looks at me, and continues looking at me, and then the two pigs behind me.

Somewhere along my run a second pig took to chasing me.

If he could have a sweat drop on the side of his head I'm sure he would have. "Ayann, jump when I tell you to."

"Wh –"

"Jump!"

I did as instructed and landed mid air. Well not really. I landed on a rock disguised with a blue cloth. I don't know where it came from, but look on the bright side! My pig's dead and now I can cook it!

"Wow! Is that one of you're ninja tricks?" I exclaimed while dragging my pig over to the fire pit he put together.

* * *

"It's delicious! This one is to. Oh and this one too!" For the past couple minuets Buhara has been consuming the roasted pigs one by one and every single one of them have been declared delicious. Even mine! I made it extra black; it always tastes better that way.

Finally he ate the last one and threw the bones into the growing pile behind him. "Wow, I sure ate a lot! I'm stuffed."

"Seventy whole roasted pigs have been consumed." Menchi made the announcement.

"Wow, that was incredible. Aren't Hunters amazing?" Gon asked with a big smile.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that, but I never want to become like him." Killua answered while scratching his cheek.

"That's awesome!" I shouted.

"You're hopeless you know. You were supposed to evaluate them for taste and preparation too. Are you really going to pass them all?" Menchi groaned.

"Aww, loosen up Menchi. This test was never about flavor anyway. The number of applicants has gone down a bit."

Menchi sighed:

"And the whole roasted pig round is over, all seventy submissions have passed."


	4. Second Phase: Sushi

Chapter 4 is out =)

Hunter x Hunter does not belong to me, only Ayanna does.

Well I hope you enjoy this part.

This part is started out a little differently than the rest, it's just giving a little insight on Ayanna's past...i don't really thin there's much of a reason for it in this chapter, but the next once has a reason and the same with the chapter after that =)

Feel free to leave a review about what you think, criticism is welcome.

**ENJOY!**

* * *

A young girl, barely the age of six, walked among a crowd of people, frantically whipping her head around all the while screaming a name:

"Momma, Momma!"

The passing bystanders stopped to look at the spectacle the girl was unknowingly causing. Women gave her pitying glances, yet none of them made a move to help the blue haired child. Men looked at her as if she was nothing more than a pest, and other children looked at her but lost interest quickly and continues to play with one another.

"Momma, Momma!"

Her aquamarine colored hair stood out amongst the dark hair colors in her home village. Her eyes, the shame shade as her hair, shone with unshed tears. Her cries steadily grew to a frantic shout and her pace increased to a frenzied sprint. The little girl was terrified. Just that morning she and her mother had been walking together in the market to buy a few things for dinner. The aquamarine child was ecstatic at the idea of getting out of the house and away from the chores associated with it; this was also her first time to the market. Her mother had warned her not to wander off, but her childlike attention span was unable to keep up with both her mother's instructions and the exciting new scenes in font of her. She, obviously, choose to pay attention to the later. At first she stuck close to the dark haired woman known as her mother, but once the fear of the different surrounding began to wear off she left the comfort of her mother's side to explore the place before her. However, it didn't take long for her to get tired; that was when she noticed her mother was no longer by her side. She began her search sometime around then.

"Momma, Momma!

"Ayanna!" A woman with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes embraced the young girl, tears running down her face. "Don't you ever go off on your own like that again! You have no idea how worried I was about you. Oh, Ayanna, I'm so happy you're safe! I'm so happy," She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, leaving thin black smudges around the corners of her eyes. The skin around the mother's eyes were red from the constant rubbing, and the sight of her momma in tears brought her own to the surface. She began to cry while clinging to the dark haired woman.

"Momma, Momma."

* * *

Menchi gave us her order…sushi.

I wish I read that one book that my dad brought home about ethnic dishes. But _no_ I had to disagree and say I knew how to cook just fine…now I have to pay the price for my childish behavior.

The crowd seemed to be just as disappointed, no that's not the word…I think it was confused, or angry, as I was.

Nobody knew what this _sushi_ even was, how can she expect us to make it!

"Here, I'll give you all a little hint. Inside are your work stations," She stood off to the side to allow us all entry.

Inside were a lot, and when I say a lot, I mean **a lot**, of cooking utensils. Each station had a sink, knives, and basic toppings that this _sushi_ must need.

"Here is where you'll prepare the dish. Each station has all the essential tools and ingredients. I've even prepared the rice for you, which is necessary to make sushi. And now for one final hint, I'm particularly fond of hand molded sushi." She let that sink in.

'_Telling me that you like hand molded sushi isn't going to help me much if I don't even know what this sushi is!'_

"All right then, you guys get on started, but remember, this test is over as soon as I'm full. Until then you can serve me as many plates as you'd like." Pink haired girl sure doesn't give much description of this thing we're supposed to make.

I glanced around me and caught sight of Gon and Killua standing next to an open station and quickly took my place besides them. I made it just in time for Gon to ask one of his innocent, and quite obvious, questions.

"So is it just made of rice? Or what?"

Killua did one of his showoff-ish moves, which includes picking up one a large chopping knife and tossing it in the air only to catch it by the handle after it did a flip. Kind of like an acrobat.

"Judging from the tools, I'd say there was more than that." He gently fingered the blade, only to find it missing the next second.

"That's dangerous! Don't touch the sharp part of the knife. Do you want to cut your finger open!" I pointed my newly acquired cooking utensil at the unsuspecting silver headed boy.

Again, he only blinked at me. "It would be stupid for me to let myself get cut by a blade as dull as that one."

"You never know, what if you accidentally slip and you cut your finger? Or there's and earthquake and you lose your balance and then you fall and chop your fingers off! What would you do then? Huh! You won't be able to make sushi and you'd fail by default!"

He never got a chance to reply because, once again, one of my very interesting and very important conversations has been rudely interrupted. Only this time it was for something as repulsive as fish…FISH!

Who interrupts a very important, alluring, fascinating, intriguing, entrancing, delightful…uhh, where was I again? Oh wait…amusing, touching, meaningful conversations such as the one I was having with Killua about not playing with sharp knives!

And about fish no less, FISH!

I don't like fish much, I don't like the taste, I don't like the smell, and I defiantly don't like the way they look! I never have and I never will.

I would have been perfectly content with sitting in my personal little kitchen trying to make sushi without fish, however…

It didn't work out that way.

Gon grabbed my right arm, Killua grabbed my left, and together they drug me out of the cooking station after I voiced my resolve of staying put in the comfortable setting of the kitchen.

Well Gon had to convince Killua to help him out, the silver headed boy didn't seem to care whether or not I passed or failed. Although, I think my previous attempts to annoy him, well I wasn't actually trying to, gave him reason enough to force me to the river.

The let me go after we got a good distance from the warehouse like kitchen, I must have convinced them I wasn't going to run away anymore.

It's not like I would be able. I could tell from Killua's grip on my arm that he was considerably stronger than me and would most likely be able to drag me to the river and back even if I was struggling all the while. Gon was quite strong himself, just not as strong as Killua, I don't think.

"Lucky for you, fishing's your strength isn't it?" Killua brought me from my thoughts…temporarily.

Gon's agreement sound of a response sent me straight back into them.

Fish…I have to catch some fish. I've never fished before in my life!

I did watch a show once; I got bored really quick and changed the channel to. The show was some type of hunting documentary, how to fish the old fashion way. With spears and stuff. Maybe I could try to catch a fish with that.

No, I think I'll use my recourses a little better. You know what they say…actually, I forgot what they say. It has something to do with using the things given to you to their fullest potential, and I plan to do just that!

I mean, why should I have to get fish myself when I can have Gon get it for me?

"Hey, Gon?" I had my hands behind my back, "Do you think you can do me a favor?" Looking down, "Can you catch my fish for me?" Drawing circles in the dirt with the toe of my shoe, "I've never fished before in my entire life!"

"Heh, why should he get your fish for you? Pesky girl," Killua scoffed.

He wasn't looking at me when he said it, so he missed my glare and my fist.

"So, what do you say Gon?"

If anyone were to look back they would have saw a sulking Killua nursing a large bump to his head.

"Yeah sure, I'll catch enough for the both of us! I can teach you how to fish too!"

"Uhh, no thanks." I tried to cover the disgusted look on my face with a smile when he looked back at me in question, "W-we don't have enough time for that today. How about you teach me later?"

"Thanks a great idea, now come on! Killua hurry up or all the good fish are going to be taken!"

I glanced back at the silver headed boy and smirked at the glare he sent me.

Normally I would have been afraid of that, but what are friends if you're scared of them?

Now…how do I cut this thing?

A slimy, slippery, smelly, scaly, fish lay withering on my sand colored cutting board.

All around me people have already finished and are now standing in line to have their sushi tasted and so far everyone, and I mean everyone, has come back to the drawing board to start again.

Killua just left a second ago, with his plate covered. No matter how many times I asked how to cut a fish he just smirked, glanced at my empty plate, and continued smirking!

I think he's bitter.

Like a bitter old man that holds a grudge. His hair is already white, now all he needs is a hunched back, which I'll be happy to give him.

"This is gross!" Well that's the loudest she's been since Leorio. I looked up from the rice in my hands and saw a pink haired Menchi throwing a plate of food into the air and Killua standing in front of her.

That sent me into a round of laughter in itself.

He sighed and placed a hand at the back of his head, walking back to his station besides me.

"Maybe it's a good thing you didn't help me, Killua~"

"You still haven't finished one plate," He retorted.

"Bitter old man," I whispered it under my breath, but it seemed he still heard it.

"Pesky little girl."

"Ha – you really are a bitter old man!" I taunted.

"Come on, I still haven't seen one dish worth tasting." Menchi grumbled from her spot. Why do these people keep insisting on interrupting my conversations with Killua? "Are you call trying to starve me to death?"

"You're the one that's being so picky…" I mumbled.

"What was that? Who said that? Huh!" Menchi was quick to stand and look around our group.

'_What is up with these people and their super human hearing!'_

Fist Killua, but he was standing right next to me so that one doesn't really count, and then the pink haired examiner. She was all the way on the other side of the room!

I looked at Gon once the examiner calmed down and sat down, and asked him how to cut a fish.

"You hold the knife like this and then you just cut it," Was his simple reply with a demonstration.

It didn't help. Not one bit.

Menchi went into an uproar again, ranting about how tired she was of seeing the same failing attempts over and over again after Kurapica went up again.

She was like a maniac, waving her arms in the air and screeching at the top of her lungs.

"How about you try this on for size?" Ninja man let out a little chuckle, "Presenting, genuine sushi!" He lifted the silver lid to expose a small piece of _sushi_. I couldn't see it from where I stood, but the examiner seemed to think it looked ok because she ate it.

"I didn't like it, try again." She handed the plate back to the ninja. Or tried to, he didn't take it and began a rant of his own.

"Are you serious! Sushi is nothing more than a small handful of rice molding into a rectangular bite sized shape with a little wasabi in the middle and a small piece of fish on top. It's not rocket science anybody can make it! So how can you tell me you don't like it!" He stopped for a moment and looked around, his gaze landing on me in the far corner.

I gave him the best advice I could, a thumb's up!

Hey, it's not my fault he revealed what sushi was to all the examinees.

Menchi, behind him, looked ready to blow her top. "You were saying, it's not rocket science?" She grabbed him by the maroon collar of his shirt and shook him, "You bald headed idiot! I'll have you know that it takes ten years to even begin to make sushi the proper way! Even if you amateurs can imitate the shape, you'll never match the delicate flavor! GOT THAT!"

Ninja mans face shifted, "Oh yeah! Then why did you make it a topic for the test?"

"Are you talking back to me? Ohh, I'll kill you!"

After some more shouting she finally let him go and told everybody else that she was ready. Instantly everyone was in front o her, shoving their plates in her face.

I stayed back; I still didn't know how to cut a fish.

One by one each examinee came back to their station to try again, and I made my way up to get mine tasted.

The people in front of me slowly went down in numbers and the people behind me went up.

It was my turn.

She looked at my piece with a critical eye, then shrugged and ate it.

Promptly spitting I out to yell at me, "Are you trying to poison me! Compared to that, everyone before yours tasted like heaven!"

I traveled back to my station in a sulking manner…

And was greeted with a laughing Killua.

When he went up again I followed him and stood with him besides Gon and his other two friends.

"Sorry, but I'm completely stuffed!" Menchi exclaimed after taking a sip of her tea.

"So then, what happens now?" Hanzo asked, and for once I can't complain about him always talking because I was about to ask the question myself.

"Like I said, the test is over once I'm full, and this time no one passes." Menchi said with a little laugh. "Thank you, come again."

'_Does this mean, everyone fails?'_


	5. Second Phase: Boiled Egg's

Here you go...

**ENJOY!**

* * *

The pouring rain falling from the black sky drenched a young aquamarine haired girl within second of it's starting. The pitter-patter of each droplet as it hit the cement was silent to any passing people, but it sounded like screams to her.

Her screams.

It reminded her of the dark crimson color, and the way it stains your hands.

Blood.

Her blood.

It reminded her of tears, and the way they never stop.

The way they always continue even if they don't appear on the surface.

Her tears.

A flash of lightning lit up the sky and brightened the lone girl sitting on the deserted grass.

It reminded her of smiles, and how they are lost to her.

It induced flashbacks of the times with a dark haired young woman.

The way her smiles lit up her face and brought a smile to everyone else's.

The ways her tears brought everyone running.

The way her words held such influence on everybody around her.

A cry of thunder made her jump and brought her gaze off the stone in front of her, to the sky above her.

It reminded her of the cry that left her lips when she found it.

It reminded her of the body whose departed soul rested beneath her.

It reminded her of the screams that never stopped.

"Momma, why did leave me?"

"Momma, why did leave me all alone?"

"Momma, why didn't take me with you?"

"Momma, why…why did have to go?"

The words left her lips in a daze.

"Momma, come back."

"Please come back,"

Her body collapsed onto the soaked cement stone in front of her.

"Momma!"

"Momma, don't leave me! Please, I promise to be a good girl. I won't be bad anymore, please momma! Don't go!"

Another flash of lightning,

Another cry of thunder,

The rain that never stopped:

"MOMMA!"

The screams that never ended:

"Don't leave me!"

The blood that stained her hands:

"Momma,"

The tears that stayed forever.

"Momma."

* * *

We all stood in silent suspense, waiting for Menchi's next test idea.

"The test will be…a boiled egg."

'_We went from sushi, to a boiled egg? How does that happen?'_

"Chairman, can you take us all to that mountain over there?" She pointed to a mountain off in the distance.

"Yes, of course. That will be easy enough to arrange." The old man that Menchi called President answered.

We all board his airship and then we were off.

It only took a couple minuets, and the whole time I was looking at the window at the green land beneath me. It looks so pretty from the sky!

Then we had to land…on a mountain…with a deep ravine running through the center of it.

"So, this is the spot." The pink haired girl turned to look at us while standing at the edge without her shoes. She discarded them somewhere on the airship.

"Where are we?" I asked looking at the examiner.

She didn't answer me, of course not, but she answered Todo…number 255, the guy she beat up.

"How deep is this thing? I can't see the bottom."

"Not to worry, at the bottom is a _deep_ river." She spun to face the _deep_ river, "Now watch and learn boys."

She then proceeded to dive off the edge into the water. Causing many of the examinee's to freak out and run to edge, almost pushing me off.

"Hey, watch it! I'm standing here you know! Do you want to kill me and then have me haunt you for the rest of your lives? 'Cause I'll tell you now, I won't mind. It might be kind of fun messing with your showers and preventing you all from sleeping~" I shouted.

Everyone took a step back from me, horrified.

I smiled and continued to look down below me while listening to President Netero's words.

"This ravine is home to the spider eagles, and she's gone down to retrieve one of its eggs."

She landed on the web like string and swung herself up to be hanging by her feet.

"Spider eagles have to protect their young from the wild carnivores that live in this area."

She spun again to be on the web looking like a frog and grabbed the egg as it swung towards her.

"They hang their eggs on long webs that are stung up on the high cannon walls."

She then proceeded to scale the wall like a monkey.

"She'll grab a single egg and then climb back up here."

Menchi's pink hair appeared and then so did the rest of her body. Holding up the spotted egg she said, "This is the kind of egg were going to boil for the test!" Then continuing in a playful tone, "You might want to be a little careful, the river at the bottom is very fast so if you fall you'll be whisked out to sea before you know what hit cha."

"This will be a piece of cake." Killua stood with his hands behind his head.

"Man, I've been waiting for something like this!" Gon said in return.

"Better than running another marathon or having to make some dish I've never heard of." Leorio said with his hands on his hips looking down into the ravine.

"I agree." Kurapica nodded.

Leorio jumped right in, Killua stepped straight off the edge, Gon dived, and Kurapica fell backwards.

"Hey, you guy's didn't give me a chance to say something cool too! Eek, wait for me! I want to join in on the fun." I then jumped off the edge in a cannon ball form.

Behind me I could hear more people jumping but stopped paying attention to them when I neared the web. I didn't bother with landing on one. I just grabbed an egg and continued to fall. I had time.

People looked at me as I fell past them, but I wasn't paying attention to them I was more interested in putting the egg in my pocket and grabbing one of my special arrows without dropping all the others.

"Got it~" I sang, and past Killua.

He looked at me like I was insane, and I don't really blame him. Who lets themselves fall for this long without grabbing onto the something?

It was obvious that I could, the web was less than three inches from me, and I was actually dodging them as I fell.

I carefully aimed at the top of the wall and felt my arms jerk and I came to a screeching halt mid air, hanging from a rope.

"Ohh, I should have thought this through better." I cried as I was sent hurtling towards the wall face.

"This is gonna hurt," and it did.

* * *

"Hey Gon, Killua, guess what!" I ran up to them as they were climbing out from the ravine.

They looked at me, "I got an egg!" I shouted while shoving it in their faces.

Killua looks at me blankly, Gon smiles and say's good job. Kurapica climbs out from the Ravine with Leorio right behind him.

"Ok, and the gathering potion of the test is complete!" Menchi called.

That was when I noticed Todo laying on the ground. Actually I didn't notice him until he spoke, but…that's not the point.

"No hard feelings buddy boy, but I'm keeping the egg for myself." He said while looking back at Gon.

"Hey Killua? What does he mean by that?" I whispered the silver headed boy beside me.

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know. You had your face glued to the cliff face." An anger mark appeared on my head. "Maybe you should pay more attention next time." It got bigger. "Oh, and you might want to wipe your face, you have a little dirt there."

Again I left him on the ground nursing a large bump to his head.

"Humph, serves you right. Bitter old man."

"Here, got one!" I arrived just on time to see Gon pop up in front of Todo with an egg in his hand.

"Hey, wait, how'd you do that?" Todo exclaimed in confusion staring at the egg now in Menchi's hand.

"For a little kid you sure got a lot of tricks up your sleeve. But I'm curious as to why you decided to rescue number 255 in the middle of the test."

'_He's an idiot.'_

Gon looked up at her innocently, "He needed help, so I helped him."

'_He's a naive idiot.'_

Menchi seemed to think the same, "That's a pretty lame answer, are you just naïve or is there something more to you?"

* * *

"Do you think it's time to take them out?"

"Nope, a little longer." Kurapica answered Leorio.

"I don't even know how long you're supposed to boil a regular egg." Killua said while glancing into the pot of boiling water filled with spire eagle eggs.

Said eggs began to jump and Buhara made a sound of nervousness.

"Hey, what are you so worried about?" Gon looks up at him.

"He must know something!"

Then we were all surrounding the pot and taking our eggs out.

"This is a regular chicken egg," Menchi held up a white egg. "And this is a spider eagle egg," She held up the spotted egg. "Now go ahead and compare how they taste."

A bunch of "It's good" or "This is delicious" went around but I still just continue to stare at the eggs in my hand.

Killua was the first notice. "Why aren't you eating your egg? I thought you were hungry, pesky girl."

My stomach heard him, and responded in a loud growl. "I don't like egg's."

"Well if you don't want it I'll eat it." He reached for the egg. I took a step back and turned my back to him.

"No way! This is my egg!"

He didn't stop trying to get it so I did the only thing I could think of, ate it.

It was good, really good. It didn't even taste like a regular egg. I could eat these all day long!

I looked down at the half eaten egg in my hand, then towards the sulking Killua and walked up behind him. Tapping him on the back and handing him the other half of my egg.

His face lit up and he ate it quickly.

"Listen up, for the second phase, forty two pass. Menchi's menu is over!"

Cheers went around, and when Killua wasn't paying attention I shoved the chicken egg in his mouth.

_What?_ I had to get rid of it somehow.


	6. Airship Adventures

This one starts out kinda...eek

Sorry for all of you that hate when this kind of thing happens in a story, I couldn't think of anything else to get this message across.

Well here you go...and...

If there's anything you guys don't like just leave a review and I'll get to fixing it for you all later!

xP

**ENJOY!**

* * *

A sparking, dancing, shimmering, light, and a lost aquamarine headed girl; a golden gate standing tall on the silver clouds, glistening with unshed tears. The song of birds rang out through the distance, sending the young child spinning, looking, and searching.

She stopped.

She saw.

She cried.

She fell.

She whispered:

"Momma."

The dark haired woman clad in a gold white dress smiled, her eyes glimmering in the golden light surrounding her, surrounding everything.

Her eyes darting towards the silvered sky, she pointed.

"That's me, Momma." The aquamarine child whispered, staring up at the reflection above her. She was lying on the forest floor, sleeping.

She lost interest in it shortly.

"Momma, why did you have to go?"

The added weight by a feather light touch to her shoulder caused her to jump in alarm. She looked at the transparent hand and followed it to the fading woman before her, two aquamarine eyes staring into her own.

Gently, the dark haired woman unclasped the tight fists her daughter had made in confusion, and placed a single, folded, paper into the small-unwithered hands.

The child, about ten, looked at her hands and opened the glistening paper…it was blank.

"Momma?"

The dark haired woman stepped back, preparing to walk through the gates once more.

"Momma, wait! You don't have to leave yet, do you? Can't you come back with me? Please! Daddy is teaching me how to fight; I can protect you now! I can find the person who did this and kill them so they know never to touch my momma. Momma, please don't leave me again."

The woman stopped as soon as the words left the child's lips, as soon as the sound reached her ears, she froze.

_'No.'_ She didn't say it.

Her lips simply mouthed the word.

No sound left her mouth.

She couldn't speak.

"But Momma, why?"

She pointed to the glistening paper in her aquamarine child's hands.

"It's blank, Momma."

The woman's shoulders slumped, and she pointed up once again.

The child looked up and saw the light blue sky of a new morning.

"Momma, what are you –" Her mother wasn't there anymore, only trees were around to keep her company.

"Momma, why did you have to leave me here all alone again?"

The girl stood up slowly and stretched her back; it's never comfortable sleeping on the cold forest floor. Her dirt covered clothes were crumpled, it looked as if she took a dip in the ocean, rolled around on a muddy bank, then ran a marathon to dry herself.

A crinkling sound brought her attention to a small white piece of paper in her hands.

The front of the paper had six beautifully scripted letters:

_Ayanna_.

* * *

"I want all of you to know that I think you've worked very hard. All forty-two of you have passed the second phase of the exam. Just to let you all know we are set to reach the site of the third exam tomorrow morning at eight am. Until our next meeting you all have some free time, dismissed." Menchi told us with a big smile all the while, yeah, just kidding! She only smiled for a little while, and then she walked away with the rest of the examiners.

After she left the crowd I was standing in began to scatter, some leaving the room, and others just going to sleep against the walls.

"Hey, want to do something?" Gon asked excitedly while looking at Killua and me. He was bouncing up and down; even if I didn't want to go I wouldn't of have had the heart to say no.

"Yeah sure. What do you say we go and explore this air ship?" Killua stretched his arms out in front of him.

"Sounds like fun. Count me in!" I looked a Kurapica and Leorio, "Are you two coming?"

"No, I don't think so." Kurapica said with his eyes closed, slumped against the wall.

"I think I'll have to pass, I'm so tired I can hardly move." Leorio said with his head resting on his arms. "You three, just go on ahead."

"See you later!" Gon called over his shoulder, I waved and we all ran through the door into the hallway with light purple carpets.

"So where are we going to go first?" I questioned as we continued our run down the deserted hallways.

"There's one place we got to see, and that's the cockpit." Killua said.

"I hear ya," Gon replied.

"Where's the –"

Killua suddenly stopped, leaving me to run into him.

"Hey Killua, is something wrong?" Gon stopped a couple feet ahead of us.

"Oh, it's nothing," He started to run again quickly catching up to Gon.

"Well then don't stop, that hurt, running into you, you know." I grumbled from my place beside him, if I was going to run into him if I was running behind him then I'm not doing that again!

A small smirk pulled at his lips.

"Bitter old man."

* * *

A light green door was the only thing standing between us and the control room, a door that just so happen to say 'Do **NOT** Enter.'

"Check it out, pretty cool, huh?" Killua asked as he pushed the door open, revealing the contents of the room to us.

"Yeah, but, the sign says not to enter." Gon whispers while peeking out from behind me.

"I think of that as more of a guideline than a rule," was Killua's juvenile innocent reply.

We stood at the doorway looking into the room filled with a lot of buttons and colorful lights, making sounds of admiration. Actually only Gon and I were making those sounds, Killua seemed to be perfectly content just staring at us like we were idiots.

My revenge?

I poked his cheek.

"There's a slight wind from the east, and the visibility is good. The only thing we have to watch out for tonight is that we don't fall asleep." A deep voice said; it came from the wheel. "Once you finish there, would you mind getting me some coffee?"

"Go get your own coffee. Or are you that lazy~" Killua drawled, his hands behind his head.

"Huh? What?" The diver turned to look at us.

"Here, I'll tell you what. You let me steer this thing, and I'll get you both some coffee." His cheeks lifted in what I can only guess was a smile, I wasn't standing at the right angle to see his face.

Gon let out a nervous laugh and I smiled the biggest, goofiest smile I could muster up on command, which is pretty goofy if you ask me.

We were instantly kicked out.

Gon rolled and hit the wall.

Killua rolled and stopped in the middle of the hallway, still facing the door.

I casually walked out of the room…and tripped over Killua's leg, causing us both to groan in pain.

"Ugh…Oh, come on, If you didn't want us to enter all you had to do was lock the door!" Killua shouted, it kind of reminded me of a spoiled brat's tantrum.

I was still groaning because somehow when I feel I managed to hit my head on Killua's elbow, scrape my knee through my black pants, and jam my hand into the ground.

"Ugh, I hate getting in trouble…" Gon muttered while sulking under a tree, which was conveniently placed in a dark corner.

"Hey…girl. Get off of me!" Killua shouted while rolling me off his stomach, causing me to groan in pain, again.

"Hey, that hurt you know! Don't you think you should be a little nicer since you were the person who tripped me!"

Killua looked at Gon, his expression changing drastically, "All right, let's go somewhere else." He got up and offered me a hand.

* * *

'_We climbed ladders.'_

'_We played around on this tractor looking tank thing.'_

'_We opened every door we passed, one of those being a very stinky bathroom which almost caused me to pass out.'_

Now, here we are, taking a breather on one of the benches in the hallways with giant windows.

"Whoa, that's awesome!" Gon was pressed up against the window, looking at all the lights below us. "They look kind of like stars."

"You mean you've never seen the view of the sky at night before?"

"Not all of us can afford it, I know I can't this view is amazing!" Passer byres would think Gon and I were twins with our similar behavior, well that's only if they didn't base twins on appearance.

"I kind of did, when I rode on Kiriko's back, but there wasn't this many lights there." Gon just had to go and burst my bubble of being non-look alike twins now didn't he. "How about you?"

"My family owns private jets, so I've seen this a million times." He just has to sound like a spoilt brat while saying that didn't he.

"Bitter old man…"

"We actually need them, our house is up on a mountain that my family owns."

Gon interrupts him, "Really?" But Killua doesn't pay much attention.

"We also have about 200 servants."

"Wow, your family must have a lot of money. I wonder do you know what kind of work your parents do?" Gon asks entranced by Killua's background.

"They're assassins," He gazed out into the distance, his voice flat.

I fall off the seat in shock. The both look at me, but don't pay me much attention.

"You mean both of them?" Gon continues his innocent parade.

Killua looks at his blankly for a moment, then he glances at me, and lets out an extremely fake laugh…or maybe it wasn't that fake, but it sure didn't sound the same as when he was laughing at me for my failed sushi attempt. "I've told a lot of people that, but you're the first who ever took me seriously!"

"Uhh, but it's the truth isn't it?" Gon asked.

"What makes you say that?"

"Don't try to lie to us Killua, we know you. But if you really want to know, it was your laugh that gave you away. For me anyway."

"Interesting, most people don't know when I'm lying or telling the truth. It's one of my special talents." Killua said.

"Some special talent." I scoffed, "It won't do you much good with me, unless you up it a couple more times."

"Every member of my family is a professional assassin. Pay them enough and they'll kill anyone you want. They all look at me as if I'm some sort of prodigy. My whole life up until this point has been all about preparing to enter the family business! But I don't see that I have to live to their expectations, you know? And get this, when I told them I was going to plan my own life they totally freaked out on me! My mom actually had tears in her eyes as she tried to convince me that I was going to be a great assassin one day.

They're the worst, who wouldn't want to get out of there?

"So eventually we got into a big fight. I slashed my mom in the face, stabbed my older brother and ran away. I bet they're scouring the country looking for me right now." His expression animates and he leans forward excitedly, "But if they find me I'll have to finish the job I started! I can't wait to get my hunters license, I'm going to hunt them down to the very last one!" He spins around on the seat and clasps his hands together getting a creepy cheerful expression on his face. "And once I collect thee bounties on their heads, I am going to be set for life!"

Killua was surprised, I could tell, by Gon's response. "You're amazing, Killua."

"Yeah, I'm only taking this exam because my dad said it would be the end of my training! I can't go home until I pass…so that's why I'm taking it." I looked at the two of them…they weren't even paying attention to me!

Nope, they were talking to each other, completely ignoring me.

"I understand Killua ignoring me, but you too Gon?"

They look at me, then look at each other, "Let's go find the cafeteria."

"That's a good idea, I am still hungry. That egg wasn't even close to enough!" I untangled myself from the unrelenting ground and pushed myself to my feet, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Gon got up as well, but Killua was already running down the hallway.

"Killua!"

'_Was he really that hungry?'_

"Killua, what's wrong?" There it is again, Gon and I being twins I mean.

We reached him at the same time, his back facing us, tension in his shoulders; he relaxed instantly, "Oh, it's nothing. Lets go get s drink, ok?" He smiled and walked away with his hands clenched.

'_Fake.'_

* * *

"Did I do something?" Gon asked, "Are you mad at me?"

For the next half hour Killua was in a bad mood. His answers were short and abrupt. He spoke with an annoyed undertone, and I also got the feeling that he was mad at us; me more so than Gon."

"No, it has nothing to do with you. Either of you," He said.

We sat in silence, I didn't want to break it, and I would feel like I was disrupting the peace.

It was broken anyway. By a girl wearing purple pants with a knife strapped to her thigh, a red shirt over it that buckled at the shoulders. She had a tan bag strapped around her middle, lying on her side, and wore black arm warmers with a red cuff at the wrist. The number 111 was pined to her red buckle on her right shoulder and her short black hair was done up in spiky pigtails. Her bangs were left alone to frame her blue eyes and she only had one dangling silver earring in her ear.

"You mid if I sit here?" Her voice was nice, I liked her, but I didn't like the fact she directed the question to only Killua. Were Gon and I invisible or something!

"Go ahead," I exclaimed. If anything, I just wanted to make my presence known.

"Thank you," She sat. "My name is Anita."

"I'm Gon, and this is Killua." We all looked at Killua to see if he would change his antisocial behavior with a new addition to out small group. He didn't, he just stared out at…nothing?

"You can call me Ayann," I flashed her a goofy smile.

"I'll tell you why I'm here," Anita started. "I'm here because I'm going to be a black list hunter."

"Cool! Do you already know who you want t catch?" I was watching her intently.

'_She's going to be a black list hunter? Maybe I could do that.'_

"I want revenge. Revenge against those who killed my father." She looked at Killua again.

I cut her off, "Hey Anita, do you have a crush on Killua or something? You keep looking at him."

Her expression darkened considerably, she didn't look so pretty anymore. Gon looked at me blankly and Killua scowled.

"Ahh, never mind. Never mind! Just forget I said anything!" I laughed and scratched the back of my head nervously.

She continued whatever it was she was saying with a little delay, "…He was a businessman for the international spice trade. He was building ships that would bring spices from the mines deep in the mountains to people across the world. At the peek of his success he was making so much money he could have bought a small country, he was making so much money. But his competitors got jealous of his success and hired a professional assassin to kill him."

'_Light bulb!'_

"I didn't even have to investigate. My father's killer had to be, a Zaoldyeck. That family of assassins that are infamous around the world."

_'Killua...'_


	7. Ball game begins

Here's the next part and sorry for the long wait, I was busy with school word and whatnot. I'm going to try to post once a week, about every Sunday from here on out. I think I got a pretty steady flow going and I don't want to mes it up by somehow forcing myself into writers block...that would suck! (And I wrote this like 2 weeks ago but then went on a cruise...SORRY FOR THE WAIT!)

I would love for reviews telling me what you all think about my story.

Well...**ENJOY!**

xP

* * *

_My Darling Daughter,_

_ You've always been a rebellious child, not always doing what you were told, before I wanted to change that, but now I can see that, that, is what makes you, you. Now I can see that I don't want you to change, I don't want you to listen and do every thing your told. I just want you to stay you, to stay true to yourself. Ayanna, I love you just the way you are. _

_Don't try to change yourself to meet other people's expectations, please. Be yourself and people will accept you just for you, they wont want you to change for them. They will accept your faults and everything else about you, just like you will accept theirs. They wont try to change you because they wont want you to change, and you wont feel the need to meet any expectations to be their friend. To be a true friend you don't have to meet any qualifications, you just have to stay true to them, to be their support when they need it. _

_Please, Ayanna, remember that I love you and that I will always be with you. Remember that you won't ever be alone, I'll always be watching over you. _

_Ayanna, will you tell your father and brother that I love them, tell them the same thing I told you, I will always be watching over them and I don't want them to suffer from my absence. Tell them that I want them to be happy and to move on; I want them to accept that I am gone. I want you to do the same. _

_I want you three to forget about revenge for my death, I know you've been training just for that reason. I don't want you to. I understood when I made my choice that it was dangerous. I understood and I accepted it. I was just hopping I could have a little more time with you, your brother, and your father. I didn't want your little brother to get involved either. I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. _

_I don't want you to live with hatred running through your veins, echoing in your eyes. I just want you to stay the carefree child that you are. _

_Please forgive me Ayanna; I hope you don't have to suffer too much because of my selfish choices. _

_Please, Ayanna._

_Love,_

_Your Mother_

* * *

"There, there. What you've gone through, it' so sad." Leorio rested his hand on Anita's shoulder, "I understand how you must feel, I'm going to be a Hunter too, so lets join together and make your dreams of revenge come true. By the way, the names Leorio." He gave us a thumbs up with his free hand, "Now why don't you tell me your name."

"Her name's Anita," Gon smiled. "We just met."

"Anita, what a pretty name for such a pretty girl. So what do you say, are you up for getting away from these kids to discus all our dreams and desires for the future?"

Leorio's voice was reminding me of the voice if the voice my older brother used once before with this really pretty girl. He said something about being alone and they left. They also made some really weird sounds in his bedroom, the bed was creaking and I heard shouts and groans. I think they were having a pillow fight.

Back to the present...

"I think I want you to leave me alone." Anita spoke with her eyes closed and in a harsh tone. I don't think she want to have a pillow fight with Leorio.

Kurapica stood at her side and with his arms crossed, "I'm sorry, but we can't do that. My name's Kurapica, and I have a goal similar to your own; perhaps we can disuse it somewhere else."

Anita looked really annoyed.

"I'd walk away if I were you. It's me, I'm the one she's here for." Killua didn't turn back around, not when Anita flicked Leorio's hand off her shoulder, not when she stood up and began to rant on how the only reason she took the exam was because of a rumor she heard that a member of the Zaoldyeck family was taking part in the Hunters exam this year, not even when Leorio shouted in disbelieve at her statement. He did, however, turn when he spoke again:

"So you've found me, yes I'm a member of the Zaoldyeck family. What are you going to do about it?" He smiled and a shiver of fear ran down my back, his eyes were really dark, and it looked like he was ready to murder someone!

Anita gasped. Her hand froze on the handle of her blade at her thigh.

'_I think I'm going to get whiplash from looking between the two of them.'_

"Hey, think about this for a second. If an assassin is hired to kill someone there's a good chance that persons done something to deserve it." Killua spoke.

Anita didn't miss a beat, "Take that back!"

She flipped the table towards Gon and me. My tea spilled on my cake and my cake fell on the ground, the table was between me and the fight. I couldn't see!

I could hear it though:

A weird ripping sound, a scream, and a "Why, old man, did you have to get in the way?" from Killua. I took the momentary pause as a chance to help Kurapica and Gon fix the table.

The Chairman was holding Anita's blade between his thumb and forefinger, Killua stood with his hands in his pockets, and Leorio was sitting on the ground, shocked silent.

Just if that was Hanzo…it would be a miracle.

"You're right, a dispute among participants is hardly a matter for examiners to get involved in, however, number 111 failed the second phase." The chairman paused for a second, thinking. "I suppose it doesn't really matter all that much because those who fail a certain part of the exam will never be able to beat someone who passed." He let go of her dagger and she fell to the ground shaking. Her eyes were wide and two guards had to help her stand.

They left.

We followed.

"She had to have known that they would catch onto her," Leorio stated as we stared up at her walking up the stairs behind the Chairman with the two guards behind her.

"There's nothing logical when it comes to revenge," Kurapica said. "To tell the truth I would have done the same thing had I been in her position."

"Kurapica's right," My voice sounded oddly serious, even to me. "If you have the opportunity you'll take it, no matter what the consequences. For some reason those never even cross your mind."

"Killua! Were are you -?" Gon shouted to Killua as the silver headed boy walked away from us with his hands in his pockets.

Killua didn't answer, he just continued to walk away from us.

_'Bitter old ma - wait, I need to go too!'_

"Eeh, sorry guys but I have something to do as well. I'll catch up with you all later, ok?" I didn't wait for an answer. I just ran down the hallway opposite Killua.

I needed to find someone, someone who had the information I needed.

* * *

I skipped into the room Buhara told me the stowaway was being held in, she was there, lost in thought, staring at the far wall.

"Anita," I hesitated. "Are you alright?"

She looked at me, her misery reflecting in her eyes, "I'm fine."

"Oh…" I looked down at my hands, memorising the callouses on my palms from griping a bow trying to master the art of it. "I thought it was cool how you said you wanted it be a Blacklist Hunter. I thought that if you could do it then maybe I could too. Then I would have a reason for being a Hunter, I would have a purpose in life. It sounds a lot better than running around not doing anything productive."

She scoffed. Scoffed! Here I was telling here what I thought and she had the nerve to scoff!

I tried to keep my tone calm, "I'm telling you that I thought you were really cool," I failed.

"I'm here only to get revenge for my fathers murder." She looked at my and spoke scornfully, "All I want is to kill your friend."

"Yeah, but you're not a bad person. You're just blinded by hatred." I looked at the guards behind her, "Can you guys give us a couple minutes alone?"

The two said _'no'_.

"Why not? I really need to talk to her…alone."

They said they couldn't leave the room because they need to keep an eye on her.

"Yes, you can! There's only one door and no windows, it would be impossible for her to get out of this room without you two knowing." I exclaimed.

They shook their heads.

I stared at them for a couple minutes, what could I do to make them leave?

_'Got it!'_

"Do you want me to throw a fit? I'll tell you know that once I start throwing a fit I always get my way...always." I glared at them, "I have a record of screaming for three days straight you know, and the only reason I stopped was because I got what I wanted. Now, you have until the count of three then I'll start screaming. One…two…two and a half…three."

I screamed…at the top of my lungs.

It only took two minutes and twenty-seven seconds to get what I wanted…(I was counting)...they left the room.

"Anita," I stopped screaming and smiled, then remembered why I came to this room in the first place. "I think you should still try being a Blacklist Hunter, I think you'd be a really good one."

She looked at me in disbelieve...I guess I'll have to tell her why.

I looked at my right hand, "I remember this hand was covered in blood, my Momma's blood. I went out to the store that night, she told me to go buy medicine for my baby brother. It was raining, it was dark, and it was cold. The water was really cold and it felt like it froze my skin as soon as it touched me. I was really cold, freezing. I didn't want to get the medicine, we didn't need it, my baby brother hadn't been sick for weeks! When I told my momma this she said to go get it anyway, we would need it soon. She was right, I got sick two day's later, and only I didn't have my momma to help me get better. The doctor said I got sick from the stress, the stress from killing them. But I knew I didn't do it, that it wasn't my fault...

"When I got back from the store the house was really, really, quiet. My baby brother wasn't even crying, he was always crying! I thought that they went outside or something. I was going to go look for them after I put the medicine in the kitchen. I stepped in a puddle, but it was raining so I didn't think about it much. I went into the kitchen, but I didn't turn on the light, I didn't need too, I knew where everything was, we lived in that house for seven years. I use to always sneak into the kitchen for a midnight snack, but I couldn't turn on the light or I would wake Momma and Daddy up. Because of that I got really good at moving around in the dark, but this time there was something on the ground. I fell and landed in another puddle. That's when I started to get scared. I put the medicine on the counter and turned on the light…" I paused and took a deep, shuddering, breath; trying to force back my tears, "The floor was red. The puddles were red. My hands were red, the light switch was red, and my shoes were red. It was blood! My Momma's and baby brother's blood! The thing I tripped over was my Momma's leg, which was lying in a weird angle...They were dead."

I couldn't stop the tears as they flowed down my cheeks in silent waves.

"I promised myself to get revenge, to make the person who did it pay. To make them suffer like they made me suffer."

Anita let me cry, thank god she didn't say anything. It wouldn't have helped.

"I had a really weird dream about three years later. It was about my Momma in heaven. She looked really pretty but she couldn't talk. She gave me a letter and then I woke up. I still have the letter. My Momma didn't want me to waste my life living only for revenge. She wanted me to be happy, to forgive but never forget. Anita, I think you should do the same thing."

"Ayann, I'm sorry. You can live your life any way you want, but I need to get my revenge. I don't think you'll be able to understand."

I nodded, "It was worth a try. I just needed to convince you to not try and kill Killua. I guess I'll be going now."

I knocked on the door and one of the guards opened it:

"We were just about to come get you two, the chairman wants us in room 31B. You can come to number 406."

"You guys can call me Ayann, Mr. Guards number 1 and 2" I send them a fake, on command smile, "Lead the way!"

* * *

"Gon! Killua!" I ran to give them a flying hug. I would have to if Killua didn't sidestep me. Gon was just to far for me to reach. Needless to say, I now have a large bump on my head.

"You're mean, Killua! I just wanted to give you a hug…Hey, are you feeling better now? What are you two doing here anyway?"

"We're playing a game with the Chairman, if we win then Anita won't be punished for sneaking on the airship. Do you want to play, Ayann?" Gon asked.

"No it's ok, I think I'll just sit out and cheer you two on."

"Wait a minute, who said I was going to play? I have no reason to help her." Killua gestured towards Anita.

"Oh really, well I don't want any help or pity from a member of the Zaoldyeck family!" Anita shouted, enraged.

"Come on now, relax. It's just a game, or maybe you're just afraid of losing to a old man like me~" The Chairman teased, and got the reaction I think he was looking for.

"As if!"

"O' fine, how about to make it worth your while I raise the stakes a little bit. If you can get the ball away from me then I'll give you a Hunters License without even having to finish the exam."

"Can you even do that?" I asked at the same time as Gon, twins I tell you, twins.

"I'm the chairman of the exam committee, if I say you get a license, you get a license."

Gon looked at Killua and Killua looked at Gon, "What is up with this old guy anyways?"

They were being twins…

"Hey, Killua! Don't you dare try to steal my twin!"

That led to everyone looking at me with a blank face…

"Eeh," I scratched the back of my head nervously, "Just forget I said anything."

They did...eventually.

"Ayanna, are you sure you don't want to play?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll sit this one out."

The three men in front of me nodded and continued their talk:

"You can attack me as often as you like. Don't worry, I won't fight back."

Killua actually looked into it, "So you're sure you're ok with this, old man?"

"Ok all the way."

"Good, 'cause it's game on." Killua ran forward towards the Chairman.

He was fast!

... But, the Chairman was faster and he sidestepped Killua all the while bouncing the ball on his head.

_'Now he knows what it's like to be sidestepped!'_

He wasn't happy about it either if the sneer on his face said anything about it.

Killua went after the ball over, and over…and over again, each time getting evaded in some different way.

I watched intently as Killua kicked the Chairman's shin. The Chairman looked like he was falling forward, and Killua smirked. However, Killua started hopping up and down while holding onto left leg, his face contorted in pain.

"Hmm, that was an awfully good kick I must say. It would have shattered the leg of any ordinary person to a million pieces."

Killua limped around the Chairman, "That old geezers leg is like made of steel or something."

"What's wrong? Giving up already?"

I looked at Killua; he had a scowl on his face and looked really mad. Then it suddenly changed into a small smirk…what is up with these facial expressions! They keep changing!

One, two, three, four, five, six, I'm tired of counting now, what is Killua doing? Why is he just walking? This is getting _so_ boring!

Wait, where'd Killua go?

He just disappeared!

I looked at Gon; he had a shocked expression on his face, probably matching mine. Twins.

I looked at Anita she was shaking. I looked back at the Chairman; he held the ball in his hand.

A little squeaking sound that I almost missed was the only indication of Killua's next move. "I got you!" If you didn't count his scream…

The Chairman dodged doing a back flip, Killua landing on the ground in a crouch, and I put my hand on Anita's arm.

"Anita, don't try to interfere. This is just a game," I whispered to her.

"Hey grandpa, this game is actually kinda fun. Maybe it's about time I try a bit harder," Killua removed his light purple over-shirt and went for the ball again.

'_I have a feeling this is going to be a long game…'_


	8. So We Finally Arrived

Hey guys here's the next part and sorry for the wait, I was a little busy with my school work.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes...I didn't really edit this one, I was a little busy.

**BTW** I would love to hear what you all think about my story, reviews give me motivation to write..and since I haven't worked on this story for about three weeks because of school work, a cruise, getting caught up in watching Prince of Tennis (A really good anime if you haven't already watched it), and reading other peoples fanfiction.

I would like to thank all the people who have reviewed so far, it has helped me a lot. Thank you RhiannonWolf, Cursed Bunny, Riss737, JoyPurple13, and Mika-chan for all the reviews...they really helped me out and gave me motivation to continue working on this story in a steady pace =)

I was also thinking about starting a Kurapica story? What do you guys think of that?

Well Disclaimer: Hunter x Hunter and all characters and some dialogue belong to Yoshihiro Togashi (Except for Ayanna and a few other OC's)

**ENJOY!**

**xP  
**

* * *

A young aquamarine haired girl, about the age of eight, ran through the murky, barley lit, forest. She ducked around tree's and gasped for breath, trying to decide whether to place her hand over her chest in a desperate attempt to fix her breathing or to just concentrate on running at a steady pace. She knew her pace had already slowed as an automatic response to the pain lacing it's way through her chest, but she wanted to stop, to rest. She knows she can't, her father told her not too.

'_Ayann, your endurance is the worst out of all my students yet. If you want to further your training that will be the first thing you need to work with. I put together a schedule that should raise your endurance stamina in a couple of months, then you'll be able to do the regular training that I have set up for you. Every morning, for the couple of months, you'll wake up at dawn and run until sunset. You cannot stop or it will hinder your training and it will take longer for you to progress to the next stage of your training, you start tomorrow.' _

That was a week ago, at first the aquamarine haired girl could barely run for five minutes until fatigue began to set in, but she progressed quickly. Her speed as well as her stamina increased with every day she ran through the forest, her balance improved to. Now she can run until almost noon before getting winded, almost five hours.

At one the burning sun ruthlessly beats down on her aching muscles and sweat ran down her overheated skin, but it did little to help the burning in her chest.

At two she begins to stumble and her lungs burn with her every breath.

At four her vision becomes foggy, it reminded her of looking into a bowl of dirty water, it was almost impossible to see clearly. Black spots danced around her and threatened to close in on her with every step.

At five she beings to trip over the upturned tree roots, gaining multiple cuts on her hands and knee's.

At six the sun begins it's decent and the young girl turns for home.

At seven she lay in her bed, fast asleep, with a grimace decorating her face because of the pain in her strained body. Her father sat at the edge of her bed and cleaned the cuts on her palms and dirt matted, bloody, knee's in order to prevent an infection.

"Good job, Ayann. Rest well, you have a hard day ahead of you…"

A silver headed boy with pain filled teal eyes hung, suspended in the air by metal cuffs attached to his writs leading up to the ceiling of the stone covered room he was chained in. A single cuff held his ankles together and a chain ran from it, to the ground. He looked to be about the same age as the aquamarine haired girl, if not only slightly older. The dark stone room he was chained in flashed with untamed light as the metal coil wrapped around his upper torso lit with unrestrained electricity.

His cry of pain was answered with another bolt and a hard whisper:

"Don't make a sound, and don't try to break your restraints. I'll let you out when it's time for dinner. I have high hopes for you, Killua. Don't disappoint me."

The boy didn't respond, no, he couldn't respond. Another bolt of electricity was running through his body, sending waves of pain from head to toe. The coil vibrating because of the force in which the electrical current ran through it, and into his tortured flesh. He tried to stop his cries of pain, and he almost succeeded. Almost.

"Agghh," A light groan was all it took for another bolt of pain.

'_Killua, an asset to every skilled assassin is silence. Pain will not phase you and will not hinder your objective, do you understand me?'_

He knew he was expected to stay quiet, to stay silent. The more noise he makes the more often he would be electrocuted.

He knew, and yet, he couldn't.

* * *

"Come on, Killua! You almost got it that time!" I shouted with enthusiasm coloring my voice. Gon and him have already switched places four times and they both look tired. The Chairman, on the other hand, hasn't even broken a sweat.

"Ouch…" I winced for my newly found friend when the Chairman decided to use head as a bouncing post. Killua got a face sandwich with a red and white ball and the ground.

"This isn't getting us anywhere…I know! How about the two of you work together as a team." The Chairman suggested.

Killua jumped from the ground, "Gon, lets go."

They ran together, side by side, towards the chairman, "You two need to focus on the chairman more than you do the ball itself, he's dribbling it to confuse you two!" I removed my hands from their position cupping around my mouth and watched as their movements became faster and more fluent. They worked perfectly together! Killua veered right and Gon went left to circle around the Chairman.

A light scoff brought my attention to the dark haired girl besides me. She was glaring at something I followed her gaze. She was glaring at Killua, the boy who currently had his legs wrapped around the Chairman's in an attempt to trip him, or hold him still. I'm not completely sure which.

Gon jumped and aimed a kick at the Chairman's head,

'_There is no way that kick will connect.'_

But somehow it actually did. Actually, there was no "somehow" involved. Gon let his boot slide off his foot and held it between his toes to extent his striking range. I never would have even thought of that!

"Whoa! Good job, Gon!" I pumped my fist in the air and started jumping up and down like a crazy person. He got the Chairman to let go of the ball!

Killua reacted quick and jumped for the discarded ball. The Chairman reacted quicker and, while standing on his hands, kicked the ball away from the three of them. He was like a kangaroo! Eer…not really, but anyways…

The Chairman almost had the ball in his hands! Gon must have shared my thoughts because, suddenly, his other boot went flying, knocking the ball off its course.

"Hey, no fair," I head the chairman complain but I didn't really pay much attention to him, I was too busy watching my self proclaimed twin and best friend.

They almost got the ball!

A loud sound caught my attention for a second, causing me to blink, and what I saw when I opened my eyes sure did surprise me.

The Chairman had the ball, but how?

He chuckled, "You almost had it. I think you guys deserve an A for effort."

Killua and Gon sat on the ground they probably got knocked down by the Chairman. Gon looked over at the spot the Chairman was previously standing in; a large footprint laid embedded into the metal flooring.

'_That wasn't there before…'_

"Killua, are you ok?" I took a small step an outstretched hand towards the shaking boy. He had his arms wrapped around himself, clutching his shoulders. I couldn't see his eyes, because his head was facing the ground, he looked scared.

I repeated my question a little more urgently, "Are you alright?"

Again he didn't answer my question but he did continue to mumble, "no, no" and an "I – I surrender," Before he ran. His arms were still wrapped around himself, his hands still clutching his shoulders, his head still turned down, and his body still shaking. He ran from the room. He ran past me and my outstretched hand, and he ran past Anita with her hate filled eyes.

I stayed silent, even while the rest began to talk and argue.

"What about you, are you ready to call it a quits too?"

'_Why did Killua run?'_

"No way! I want to give it another try!" I recognized Gon's voice but didn't say anything, "I got pretty close in that last attack, and we got the time. If I gave up now I'd feel guilty for not helping Anita!"

'_Is he ok? He looked pretty spooked.'_

"You can't win," Anita snapped bitterly. "Haven't you noticed that Chairman Netero hasn't even used his right hand or his left leg yet? Even if you kept chasing after that ball for a couple more years you still wouldn't be able to get it."

"Eeh, you haven't!" Twins, I smiled.

"Oh so you noticed? Here I thought I was doing such a good job of hiding it."

"Do you understand now? Just forget about freeing me and give up already. It's useless."

"No way!"

"Didn't you hear what I just said you idiot! It's pointless to even try to get that ball away from him, you'll never be able to do it!"

'_Did she just call my twin an idiot?'_

"I won't know unless I try! And yeah you're probably right, but if I can't get the ball away from him then the least I can do is try to get Chairman Netero to use his right hand and left leg against me."

"Fine, do whatever you want. Hey, can I go wait in my cell? I'd rather be there than watch this."

"Go ahead young lady, I won't keep you here is you don't want to watch." The Chairman dismissed her and the two guards followed her out.

"Sorry Gon, but I think I'm gong to go with Anita." I picked up Killua's light purple shirt from besides me, "I'll give this to Killua if I see him. Good luck, Gon!" I heard the distant 'see you later' from down the hall as I ran to catch up with Anita.

I found her standing over her two guards, unconscious guards.

"Sorry about this," She knelt down and slipped her hand into the coat that one of her guards were wearing, "But I'm going to need my knife back."

Anita didn't react to my presence so I figured she probably hasn't noticed I was here. I sat on a planter waiting for her to finally notice me. She didn't. Not until after she locked the guards in one of the unlocked hallway rooms did she notice me,

"Ahh! Ayann, how long have you been sitting there? How much did you see?" Her hand was on her knife's handle.

"Anita if I was going to stop you I would have done it when you tripped over guard number 1 while trying to get him into that room right there. I'll let you do what ever you want, now…PUT THAT OVERSIZED CHEESE CUTTER AWAY!"

She ignored my demand, instead pulling it out and held it to my throat, "How much did you see?"

"…" So much pain in her eyes, would I have really turned out like this if I live only for revenge? Is this what my mom was trying to save me from? Was she trying to save me, from myself?

'_Yes' I decided. 'Yes I would have turned into a monster, destroying any thing that stood in my way.'_

"…I didn't see anything Anita. I got here only a couple of seconds before you saw me. You don't have to worry, I won't turn you in."

Her eyes showered her suspicion, "Killua is that way if you're looking for him." I pointed down a random hallway hoping she'd believe me. After a couple moments of hesitation her hatred finally won because she put her oversized cheese cutter away and ran down the hallway I pointed towards.

I waited until she turned the corner and then, clutching Killua's shirt to me, followed her.

After a couple of minutes she probably realized I was following her because that is when she began to switch up her pace around every corner. Sometimes she would stop right after she turned the corner, right out of my line of sight, almost causing me to reveal myself to her on multiple occasions. Or she would run, almost making me lose sight of her for good. This continued for a good ten minutes until I finally got bored or having to be quiet for so long.

"Anita, wait for me! You took off so fast I wasn't able to catch up with you," I pretended to be out of breath and panting. My back was hunched and I gasped a couple of times with my hands resting on my knee's to give it a more realistic feel.

"Go away, Ayann. I don't want to deal with you right now I'm busy." She didn't make me leave though, although, that could be because she spotted Killua down below us.

She ran down the stairs, me in tow.

Her hand moved automatically to her weapon on her thigh before she froze, "You killed him."

I gasped and covered my mouth, feeling sick. Behind Killua a man in a cream color shirt lay, almost dead.

I rushed past the two of them and knelt down besides the man, trying to lift him onto the bench to my right. It wasn't working he was too heavy.

I felt Killua's eyes on me, not his pretty teal eyes, but his dark violet eyes, the eyes that look like they want to kill. Anther cold chill shot down my spine, it made every hair on my body stand on end and I shifted uncomfortably under his hard, whispered, glare.

He didn't want me to help the man, I realized.

'_Well he'll just have to suck it up now wont he.'_

I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him, he probably wouldn't appreciate it very much since he doesn't exactly seem like himself, and proceeded to drag the man off to the side. His heart was still beating, and he was still breathing, but how do I fix wounds that I can't even see!

I'll just settle for bandaging them, that's all I know how to do anyways.

Ignoring the fight between Anita and the dark Killua, I grabbed the bandages from one of my many pockets. I told my dad these pants would come in handy one day!

After a short battle with the mans shirt, which ended in it being shredded beyond recognition and tossed in a corner, I got to work with wrapping the bandages around his chest and forehead.

I finished and put the leftover bandages back into my pocket and tried to lay the man down in the most comfortable position I could think of, on the ground laying on his back.

A sharp gasp brought my attention back the fight. Killua was standing over a fallen Anita with his hand in a spear like shape resting at the base of her throat.

'_Karma sucks, doesn't it?' _I thought, remembering how she held her over sized cheese cutter to my neck only thirty minutes before._  
_

"Oh no, Gon!" A slight movement in the corner of my eye was all it took for me to spin around and run to the window.

"Gon," Killua stood next to me, Gon was jumping around and using his fishing rod against the Chairman, still trying to get the ball.

"Why didn't you kill me?" Anita's stood a couple feet behind me and I tensed getting ready for a sneak attack with her oversized cheese cutter.

"Relax Ayann, I broke her knife back there." Killua reassured me, already knowing what I was thinking.

"He didn't kill you because Gon is still trying to help you." I answered for Killua, knowing he wouldn't do it himself.

"So what, what does that have to do with –" Anita fell unconscious because of a punch to the gut.

"It's because he wouldn't have wanted me to kill you, that's why…" Killua mumbled and stared down at the girl.

'_Karma really sucks, huh?'_

"Here, Killua," I handed him his shirt and he pulled it on. "I thought you might have wanted that back."

I looked back to the window and shrieked, there's no way…

"GON!"

* * *

"I did it, I got Chairman Netero to use both of his hands and both of his legs against me." Gon sighed and fell back onto the cool metal flooring on the outside of the airship.

"Yeah, and that was after you almost died! Do you know how worried you made me? I thought you were going to die." I grumbled, still put out by the other three ganging up on me telling me to give Gon a break. He almost died, jumping off the airship, and they're still so calm!

* * *

"Chairman Netero has assured me that I won't be punished for sneaking aboard the airship, and it's all thanks to you, I owe you one." Anita smiled at Gon and then looked at me, "Ayann, I have a little gift for you. It's for trying to help me, I thought about what you said and I think I might give it a try." She handed me a book, it wasn't very big or heavy. I looked at the title, 'Pressure Point Fighting For Dummies'.

'…'

"Thanks Anita, I appreciate it." I mumbled and tried to figure out why she would give me a book on pressure point fighting...for dummies, I'm a long distance fighter, my bow and arrow's tell people that. So why, why did she give me a book that requires hands on fighting, I'm not very good at that.

"I know you're a distance fighter, but it would never hurt to learn a few hands on skills in case you ever need them."

'_Ohhh, that's why.'_

Killua walked up besides me his green skateboard under his arm, "I think you dropped this." He held out his hand and on it was an earring that matched the one Anita was wearing in her right ear.

She snatched it, "That was a gift from my father."

"That crystals from a spice rock isn't it?" Killua asked her.

"Uhh, what's a spice rock?" Gon asked.

"It's something that can be refined into a highly addictive and illegal substance." Killua said.

"You only need to try it once to be addicted for life," Kurapica said.

"I've heard about people throwing their lives away just to get their next fix." Leorio informed Gon.

"No – That is a lie!" I wouldn't want to accept my mother being a drug dealer either.

"I'm afraid they speak the truth," The Chairman verified.

"No," She mumbled.

"You mean you really didn't know?" Killua asked.

She hesitated, looking on the verge of tears, "My father was a kind man, and everyone always smiled when he walked by."

"Anita, when I told you my story, I didn't tell you everything. You would have disregarded it because you thought it didn't apply to you, but I knew it did the second I saw those earrings." I said, "My mother, she did the same thing your father did, and was killed by the same people. All of your families fortune was build off the misery of others, that's why someone paid to have them assassinated."

Gon, Leorio, Kurapica, and Killua looked at me. Gon's face held wonder. Leorio's face held pity. Kurapica's face was one of understanding, and Killua's face was blank, his eyes were the only things that told me of his confusion.

He walked away, and Anita fell to the ground crying.

I left her there, let Gon tell her whatever he wanted to tell her and walked over to meet Killua in the center of the stone tower we stood on.

"Why are you hanging around me, Ayann?" Killua asked.

"Is this about what I told Anita? You don't need to worry about it, one of your family members or even you may have killed my Mother but I don't blame you, and I don't want to waste my life trying to get revenge." I placed a hand on his shoulder, looking up at him, "I don't want to lose my best friend."

"Best Friend...what about Gon?"

"Gon? Gon's my twin!" I smiled a goofy smile at him.

"Like Gon would be related to an idiot like you."

"Bitter old man…"


	9. Trick Tower

Well, I finally got this part out, I'm really sorry for the wait.

I'm not sure if this chapter is very good because I wrote it over the period of two days, I normally don't do that.

I'm almost on part 10! I'm so happy! YEAHYUY

Well I would love comments and reviews, mostly reviews...they help motivate me to write.

Hmm...and I would just like to say now, the Pressure Point fighting facts are from a form of fighting called Dim Mak...I do not take credit for this. I just re-wrote it to make it fit the story plot/line.

Hmm about my idea to write a Kurapica story..what do you guys think? And I also kind of want to write a Eiji (Prince of Tennis) story...do you guys think I should?

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter or any of the cannon characters, I only own my OC's.

**ENJOY!**

**XP**

* * *

"_Pressure point fighting is commonly known as "The Touch of Death" and it is not to be practiced recklessly. Of the 108 known points 36 of them are known as the "Death Points" while 72 of them are points which can only injure your opponent. _

_The Death Points may also be used to just immobilize an attacker as long as you don't use the intensity in a strike that will cause instant, or delayed, death. There is a thin line in the intensity of a strike that will temporarily stun an opponent to one that may cause an injury, instant or delayed death. Pressure Point fighting is a system dedicated to disabling, possible paralyzing or killing of an opponent. _

_Pressure Point fighting does not require a lot of strength and it allows smaller and weaker people to disable a larger stronger opponent." _

Ayanna read over the first couple paragraphs in the book Anita gave here at the top of the tower. She figured that she might as well attempt to learn some of the things in the book.

Her long aquamarine hair lay at the base of her neck tied with a black ribbon in a low ponytail beneath her knee length coats' red hood. Her light grey shirt could be seen from under her coat; and her baggy black pants, with many pockets, covered her grey shoes and the hems dragged on the ground. She had a small backpack which she held over one shoulder and if anyone looked inside they would find an assortment of things that had no real pattern or meaning behind them…it would look like she just shoved a bunch of random household items into the bag, most likely the first ones her hands came in contact with. That, unfortunately, isn't true. She took her time while shoving the random looking items into her bag; she carefully chose the things she thought she might need and brought them with her. And, unfortunately, some still might just ask why, exactly, she had a bottle of whip cream in her bag…she would reply, "Are you sure you want to know?" Then proceed to cover them in it.

It's true.

"_Pressure Point fighting has the following effects on the living body:_

_1. Tearing of muscle or tendons which can be accomplished by twisting, bending, or ripping out muscles. _

_2. The sealing of blood vessels can be accomplished by striking, grapping, or pressing on the desired blood vessel._

_3. Dislocating joints and breaking bones by striking, twisting, and bending._

_4. Points that restrict breathing or stop the breath intake to the lungs can be attacked by grapping, hitting, or pressing the throat or muscles surrounding the lungs._

_The targets to the above can be one or more of the following: a single point, a cluster of points, set up points, vital organs, bones and joints, blood vessels, and muscles and tendons. Pressure Point fighting can disable, knock out or kill your opponent. It is possible to damage or destroy the body's immune system using this style of fighting. Pressure point strikes can disrupt the entire auto immune system leaving the body open to infections, diseases, energy imbalances and loss of health. The after effects may be far more harmful than the attack itself."_

Ayanna breathed out a sigh while listening to the short plum like man give instructions on the next phase of the exam, seventy two hours to get the bottom of the tower, doesn't sound that hard. The only one thing was bugging her, why was it called "Trick Tower"? She has a bad feeling about this place, but she pushed it to the back of her mind when Gon called her over, she'd deal with it later. It probably wasn't important.

A deep chuckle came from the tower, unheard by all the Hunter exam participants, "Just wait, just wait." Prisoners stood side by side, waiting…waiting for the next person they can kill.

* * *

"This is Trick Tower and it's the site for the third phase. Your only objective is to get to the bottom of the tower alive, you have a time limit seventy two hours and it starts now." The plum like man in a suit who came with the Chairman when he came to sort out the "No one passes the second exam problem" announced.

"Three days..." Gon mumbled staring off the side of the tower.

"Seventy two hours to get to the bottom, I have a feeling this isn't going to be easy." Leorio followed Gon's example, staring off the tower into the distance.

"Yeah, it's bound to be tougher than the last phase so we better make sure we stay focused." Kurapica advised. The other three nodded in agreement.

"Hey, hey, you guys! Look at me," I shouted from my handstand position at the edge of the tower. I was holding onto the edge to make sure I didn't tip over, "This is kinda fun you should try it!"

Kurapica gave me a slightly annoyed glance, normally I wouldn't have picked up on it, but because of what happened with Anita my senses were on high alert, "What?"

He shook his head indicating it wasn't important.

I pushed off my hands, flipping in the air, and landed silently on the balls of my feet, then wobbled as I almost lost my balance over the side. Almost.

"So what do we do now?" Gon asked nobody in particular.

"Well, there weren't any windows that I saw." I popped in, hanging on Kurapica's shoulders.

"Your right, it's just a plain rock wall. Climbing down this thing would be like suicide," Leorio grumbles.

"Sure, for most guys. But I'm a professional rock climber." A man with light brown hair wearing some type of really tight blue outfit said. "This thing has plenty of handholds; this is going to be easy!" He said while making his way down the tower at a fast pace.

"Wow."

"Incredible!"

"He's so far down already," I exclaim.

"I can't even look," Leorio says.

A strange squawking sound got my attention and I looked towards it. Three really creepy bird like things were eating the man! Or maybe not. They killed him and then carried him off, looks like only forty-one of us are left. No wait…only forty, because that one guy that Killua almost killed.

"Sure looks like climbing down isn't such a great idea," Leorio states.

"There has to be some kind of entrance, let's spread out and look for a way inside. We don't want to get left behind, do we?" Kurapica suggested and we all listened. It's like he was our leader…which could be a good thing…he always thought out what he was going to do…better than my method in a life or death situation anyway. I just did whatever I wanted to and hoped it wouldn't get me killed later on.

I did what he said and, instead of going with Gon and Killua, went by myself all the while doing cartwheels and handstands looking around at the passing people. I couldn't find Hanzo, and it looked like Hisoka is gone to…did they already find their way in? Well Hanzo is a ninja, even if he's always talking, and Hisoka is a sadistic clown…they're perfect together! Wait, what was I talking about again?

"I swear someone put something in my tea earlier, I'm normally not this crazy." I said to myself and then immediately started jumping around while screaming, "No, no, no…stop talking to yourself! It's not a healthy habit!" I slapped my hands over my mouth and mumbled into them while walking forward, "I'm still doing it, why am I still doing it?" and then, when I felt my stomach drop and darkness surround me I screamed:

"I give up," While throwing my hands in the air in an exasperated manor.

It was silent for a couple seconds, and then the lights flickered on, "I'm in the tower! When did this happen?"

I looked around me, _'There's no way out?' _

A cylinder shaped thing stands at the center of one of the stone walls and it has something on it, might as well go check it out.

"The Path of Majority Rules," I read out loud. "All six of you must vote to overcome the challenges you encounter, and on this route majority rules." I looked at the little watch like things on the surface of the cylinder table, there were six of them. I grabbed one and circled it around my left wrist, clasping it on.

"How do you make a path of majority rules with six people? Isn't that just asking for trouble?" I continued to speak aloud in hopes of keeping myself from going insane. I stood there, by the table with the timers, for a couple seconds before finally realizing what this means. "Wait, you mean I'm stuck in here until five more people show up!"

I walked in a over exaggerated dejected state, my shoulders hunched with anime tears running down my face in rivers, "I'll just go sit in this corner then; I hope I don't erode into dust by the time someone finally decides to come to my aide in this deserted tower that nobody knows who is in or out side of – Agghhh!" I screamed and began (attempting to) climb the walls of the room I was in. "Let me out, let me out, let me out of here! I'm going insane I tell you, insane!"

I continued my desperate attempts to get out of the stone walled room, however, nothing came of it. "Ok, ok. I'm calm now if that's what whoever is deranged enough to lock people in a tower called trick tower for three days or seventy two hours with no food or water wanted me to be before they started talking and giving me instructions!"

I waited, and waited, and then waited some more, "Ohh lookie, a butterfly!"

I sat in silence for about five minutes, playing with the assortment of beads I pulled out of my bag…what? I thought I might get bored.

The lights flickered off and I looked around me, or I turned my head in all directions meaning to look around me, but it was too dark! I couldn't see a thing!

That just made my hearing better though…I could hear…nothing? Ohh wait, I could hear…talking.

"It's…some…traps"

"Hmm…sunshine…lucky?"

"Well…bottom"

"Yeah"

"…Lets go"

"Alright!"

Then I heard a click of something locking and the thud of something hitting the ground.

The lights flickered back on. Two people gave a short laugh, and the other two talked to themselves:

"So much for the big farewell."

"No kidding."

You know, that kind of sounded like, "Leorio, Kurapica, Gon, Killua!" I shouted.

The all looked over at me, the me who was currently jumping around in excitement all the while singing to myself, "I'm not alone any more, I'm not alone anymore…I'm not going insane anymore, I'm not going insane anymore!"

This lead to everyone looking away from me to the cylinder table with the watches, "This room doesn't have a way out. It's the path of majority rules and we need to wait for one more person." I explained at their questioning glances. "We have to vote to about each thing it tells us I guess, I think that's why we have these little watch things with the "X" and "O" buttons."

They nod and put the watch on.

A couple seconds pass and Leorio is the first to break the silence, "So you mean were stuck here until another person arrives?"

"You are correct," a voice comes from the table and I jump behind the closest person to me, which just so happens to be Gon. "There are many ways to get to the bottom of this tower. Each route has its own unique challenges, and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the five of you to the path of majority rules."

"Hey, just wait a second now! How come you only started talking now? Why not when I first got here like two hours ago!" I shouted at the table.

"…You arrived in this room only two minutes before these other guys. I thought I would just tell you all together," The table explained. "Now, as I was saying, this route is one of our tougher courses. You'll all need to cooperate to survive. I wish you all luck," then the table turned off.

"Ugh, not you!" Leorio's voice woke me up from my short nap.

"Tonpa," And Gon's voice told me what Leorio was complaining about in the first place.

'_Tonpa…does he mean that short man with brown hair and a bow like nose who has busy eyebrows and wears a green outfit, not to mention this is his thirty fifth time taking the hunters exam?'_

"So the gangs all here, huh? Plus one…hello again." Yup the one and only Tonpa is here…if we have him with us we're doomed!

"Ohh man! We have to take the path of majority rules with this jerk!" Leorio complains to himself, or us, I'm not really sure.

Tonpa seemed to be ignoring Leorio; he put his watch thing on and pressed the starting button, then told us to follow him as he walked towards the now opening door.

"He gets here last and then starts acting like he's the leader or something," Leorio grumbles.

"I hear you; if anyone should be the leader I think it should be Kurapica." I whispered back to him. It looked like he was going to complain, but our first vote was right ahead of us and it stopped him.

"This will be your first vote. Press "O" if you want to open the door and "X" if you do not." The table told us after the stone wall opened, behind it was a metal door with two electronic plates that said "O" and "X" with a zero beneath both indicating that no one has voted yet.

"Well that's obvious isn't it?" Leorio says and we all press "O". "Of course we're going to open the door."

The numbers appeared under the letters and it surprised us slightly, but then came the anger…or Leorio's anger anyway. "O – 5" "X – 1"

"Who pressed 'X'?"

Tonpa gave a slight laugh and nervously scratched the back of his head, "Uhh, sorry about that. I accidently pressed the wrong button by mistake."

Leorio's face contorted in anger and he quickly swung his arm over Tonpa's shoulders (not in a friendly way), "Don't mess with us Tonpa, how hard is it to press a stupid button anyway? Huh?"

"Hey, I said I was sorry. Okay?" Tonpa tries to reason.

Leorio wasn't having any of it, "But how could you make such a stupid mistake in the first place? How much of an idiot are you?"

Twins, "Relax Leorio, the door still opened didn't it?"

Killua spoke after us, "Yeah, as long as we work together, it won't be a problem. Besides, I can always take him out." A sly grin appeared on his face.

The door opened silently and we all walked through into the stone hallway leading only one direction; straight.

Leorio still looks annoyed, and Tonpa looks neutral. Kurapica looks like he wants to be anywhere but here, and Killua looks bored. Gon looks curios, but then again, when doesn't he?

"Ayann, why didn't you wait for us before entering the tower?" He asked.

The question seemed to catch everybody's attention because they all looked to me waiting for my answer.

"I don't even know how I got in here," I explain. "I was just walking around looking for entrances like you –" I looked at Kurapica, "told us to. Then the next thing I know I was in the tower waiting for five more people to show up so we can begin our way down the tower." I smiled, "I'm just lucky it was you guys and I didn't get paired up with the sadistic clown or something."

That seemed like a good enough answer for them because they didn't question it further, "How do you get into the tower without knowing?"

I spoke to soon.

"I told you, I was walking. I must have stepped on one of the trap doors or something," Bitter old man…

We came to another door, this one making us vote between going right or going left.

"O – 3" "X – 3"

"I knew a majority rules path with six people wouldn't work!" I shouted while looking at the score trying to figure out what was going to happen now.

"So what now," Leorio asks.

"That happened sooner than I expected, because of the possibility of a tie in this route I made an alternative option. Follow this hallway and the rest of the instructions will be explained later on." The voice from the table spoke.

A hallway opened behind the wall with the "X" and "O" on it and we followed it to for a good ten minutes.

"How much long –" Leorio cut himself off as we entered a yellowed room.

I was made of stone, like the rest of the tower, but the torches gave the room a yellow glow. A strong breeze from the bottom gave me the chills but I don't think that was the only thing. Across from us, across the giant gap from our ledge that branched off from the hallway we came from, across the square platform in the middle of the room, there were six hooded figures with handcuffs chaining their hands. It looked like they were waiting for us, but why?

The one in front held his chained hands up and after a second the cuffs came undone and he pushed the hood over his head away. He was a bald man with small eyes and he had a couple jagged scars on his head. He looked really tall from where I was standing and his blue shirt was tight, it showed us all he wasn't someone you wanted to mess with if you wanted to live to see another day.

He spoke, "The exam committee has enlisted us to part of the applicant testing process. This is where the six of you will fight the six of us."

"That guy looks really tough," Gon said.

"He sure does, I don't want to fight him." I told them my thoughts, "I don't think it would be smart to mess with him."

The bald man started explaining the rules to us, "Matches are one on one, and you can't fight more than once. It doesn't matter who fights when, you're on the path of majority rules so that means in order to continue you need to win four of the six matches. You can fight anyway you want, there will be no draws. To be declared the winner your opponent must admit defeat. IF you want to accept this challenge press "O" if not press "X". It's time to decide now."

"Seriously, another vote? How often are we going to have to do this?" Leorio asks. "If we plan on passing this phase then we obviously have to accept the challenge. The vote should be unanimous this time, that is, unless, someone tries to screw it up for us." He sends a pointed glare to Tonpa.

Everyone presses their button, I pressed "O" and the score came to be unanimous.

"There you go, it's unanimous."

"Hey, Leorio? Are you trying to beat Hanzo in a "I can talk more than you and everybody else put together" contest?" I ask him. "I think you might win."

"Now then, let's begin. I'll take the first match, whoever things they might have a chance against me can step up now."

"What are we going to do? Who's going to go first?" Gon asks us.

* * *

"I SURRENDER!"


	10. Trick Tower: Six Different Fights

I am so, so, so sorry for the long wait...I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter.

The usual disclamer applies, I do not own Hunter x Hunter, only Ayanna and other OC characters.

I tried to make it longer than normal, but I didn't really succeed.

I would like to thank my new beta reader FrustratedFruitLoops, and give special thanks to my previous Beta-er RhiannaWolf...**_I HOPE YOU CAN COME BACK ON SOON!_**

Well I'll just let all of you who actaully read these things go and read the rest of the chapter now xP

**ENJOY**~ **xP**

* * *

Danaki grew up in Yorkshin. He had a hard childhood, not many would have lived through it.

His dad was sentenced to a life time in prison, convicted of rape and murder.

Danaki screamed and cried, "No Daddy, don't leave me! I forgive you Daddy, I know Mommy forgives you too! Just don't let those guys take you away, Daddy, please don't leave me like Mommy left us... please Daddy!"

He never did find out that the real reason his father went to prison was because he raped and murdered women. He never did find out that his mother was, in fact, raped and then murdered by his father. He never did find out what had really happened to her, he only remembered bits and pieces of the truth… of her trying to leave them, and finally, leaving them.

"I'm sorry baby, Danaki, but Mommy can't stay here anymore. I hope you understand, but I promise I'll come back for you, I won't leave you alone." He remembers his mother telling him, he remembers her promises, her promising him to return. He was only three.

He doesn't remember going to his Dad only minutes after she left to tell him that Mommy left but that she promised to come back. His Dad left shortly after, returning later that night, splattered in blood.

"Good boy Danaki, you did a very good thing telling me about your mother leaving us. She was being a very bad girl, and bad girls deserve to be punished."

He was orphaned when he was only six years old.

Nobody would take him in; they didn't want anything to do with the "filthy" boy, as he often heard them call him.

He was left to live in the slums, to suffocate in the darkness of this world and drown in a sea of misery for five long years. He raised himself. He taught himself the ways of life at such a tender age when just the slightest amount of violence could influence someone to a life time of pain.

He scavenged for food in dumpsters and begged for spare change on street corners baking in the hot summer sun of Yorkshin city.

He lived in empty alleyways hoping the gangs that occupied them didn't come back that night.

He lived in fear for the first eleven years of his life…and he hated it!

Danaki, a kid of only eleven, orphaned for five years, and the son of a murderer, had no reason to live, and he didn't want anybody else to have one either.

Nothing held his soul to the Earth, nothing but hatred and vengeance.

"_Life means nothing. Life is nothing…nothing but a lie. Life is a lie, and nobody knows the truth. I guess – I guess I'll just have to show them the truth, the truth to life."_

Danaki killed for the first time when he was fifteen. He murdered a new family, the dad, the mom, and the newly born daughter.

"_You thought you knew the truth, the truth to life, but if you did you wouldn't have died this way. You didn't know the truth, no, you knew the lie, the lie that everybody believes, but I knew the truth…and now you do to."_

Danaki murdered another newly formed family when he was sixteen.

He murdered three more when he was seventeen.

And nine more when he was eighteen.

Every family had only three members like the first he killed three years previous, the dad, the mom, and a young daughter.

"_No, no, please stop!" A small man whimpered from the ground where he lay, suffering from a shattered leg and broken heart. His clothing, which was clean, pressed, and ironed earlier that day, clung to his body from the blood pouring out of his wife's wounds._

"_Stop! Please, just leave us alone, let us live, please don't…NO STOP!" He would scream and cry as he cradled his wives broken, limp, body in his arms while watching his daughter get slashed and beaten before his eyes._

_He couldn't do a thing about it. His leg was broken, and even if he did try to get up (some have succeeded before) he would be delivering his wife to deaths doorstep, never to see her again._

"_Stop it! Leave her alone!" He would scream, tears running down his already pale face. "Why are you doing this to us? We haven't don't anything wrong, we follow all the rules, we do everything we're told…I admit, we've had our fair share of arguments with other people but it was never anything worth this punishment, so why? Why are you doing this? Why can't you just leave us alone?"_

"You thought you knew the truth, the truth to life, but if you did you wouldn't have died this way. You knew the lie, the lie that everybody believes, but I know the truth…and now you do too."

* * *

I watched the man in front of me, mentally assessing the possibility of being able to beat him in a fight. He wasn't very tall, maybe about Kurapica's height at most, and his light brown hair didn't do much to make him look super tough and scary. All in all, he liked like a pretty nice guy.

My palms began to tingle as I wondered what our match would be like. Would it be a death match like Tonpa's and Kurapica's? Or would it be a mental game like with Gon and Leorio?

I guess I'll just have to wait like everyone else…

"So, what's our match gonna be? Huh? Huh?" I asked him, images of intense hand-to-hand combat running through my mind. He didn't look like much, really. I could take him on and win, even if I wasn't the strongest close-ranged fighter around.

A friendly chuckle left his throat and I looked up at him in shock. _Why did he sound like such a nice guy?_ He's a convict serving a hundred-year sentence, or maybe more according to Kurapica.

"It doesn't matter to me. Why don't you choose a game, little missy? It hardly seems fair that my team's always deciding what we're going to do," he offered smiling.

"Really, I can choose?" I turned back to my team, "Did you guys hear that? He's letting me pick the game! I got the nice one!"

A battery of possible competitions ran through my head: a friendly game of dice, a "whoever can eat the most whipped cream" battle… a jump roping contest – "Wait…I didn't bring my jump ropes!"

I slumped down to the ground; glaring at it as if it was its fault my jump ropes were still at home.

"Little missy, have you decided on a way to settle our match yet?"

"No, no, not yet, but I almost have it I swear… it's at the tip of my tongue."

* * *

_Leorio fumbled for an answer to the girls question, is she a boy or a girl? It's pretty obvious if you ask me, you'd have to be really stupid to miss that one!_

"_You certainly look like a girl, but I think I'll play it safe and go with boy." _

_I nearly started to bang my head up against the stone wall._

"_Is that your finally answer?" The girl smirked._

"_Yes, my answer is…that you are a man! I'm betting ten hours on it!"_

"_I'm sorry to say, but I really am a girl."_

_**The girl held out her hand in a paper formation, "I'm going to choose paper."**_

_**Rock, paper, scissors…rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper, and paper beats rock… "Choose scissors!"**_

_**Leorio began to sweat.**_

"_**Come on Leorio, choose scissors!"**_

_**He chose rock… and lost.**_

* * *

"Always choose the obvious choice…" I mumbled. "I know! We can play a game of catch!"

"Little missy?" My opponent asked, probably confused by my random outbursts.

"We can play a game of catch to figure out whose side gets the point."

My opponent nodded and asked what the rules of the match would be.

"Well, it can be like that game where you toss the egg back and forth until someone misses." I suggested.

"I've never played that," he shot it down.

"Well here," I walked up to the center of the platform we were standing on. "All we have to do is start at the center where I am now, and throw the ball back and forth to each other. Every time you catch the ball you take a step back until we both reach the edge of the platform. Whoever misses the ball loses!" I grinned.

"Are you sure that's the game you want to play, little missy?"

"Mhm, it'll be fun! Just wait," I turn to my team, "Can you guys get the ball out of my bag so we can play this game?"

Kurapica was the one closest to my bag so he nodded and opened it to look for my ball.

"So, mister, what's your name?" I asked my opponent.

He looked at me in silence for a couple moments before finally answering, "Danaki, and you, little missy?"

"I'm Ayann," I caught the ball Kurapica threw, ignoring the slightly freaked out look on his face-he probably saw my stuffed mouse. It looked pretty real if you asked me, or a high-class lady in a restaurant. Last time I took it out, she ran out the door screaming for me to keep that "deranged-animal-that-is-not-fit-to be-included-in-our-society" away from her.

Danaki nodded to me, and we both moved to our positions at the center of the platform.

"You can go first little missy." He gestured for me to start.

"Are you ready?"

"Of course."

"Then let's start!"

* * *

"So how long have they been at this now?" I heard Gon ask in exasperation as I caught the ball for the millionth time…fine, fine, maybe it was the ninety ninth thousandth time.

"About an hour…" Kurapica said at the same time Killua mumbled, "Too long." It was just loud enough for me to hear.

"Ayann, hurry up already!" Leorio shouted.

Everyone was getting impatient. I was too but, unfortunately, Danaki caught the ball again. What was I going to do to make this guy lose anyway?

"I'm trying!" I call back over my shoulder, barely catching the ball again before it hit the ground. "Now stop distracting me! Can't you see I'm busy?"

I threw the ball, hard, in the opposite corner he was standing in hoping to make him lose.

I watched him dive for it, catching it right before it fell over the edge.

"Oh come on!" I exclaimed in desperation. "If you were only a couple inches shorter you wouldn't have been able to reach that!"

He only smirked and threw the ball to the corner opposite to the one I was standing in.

'_Stupid tall people…' _I ran to catch it, stumbling over my feet and flailing like Killua probably would if he ever attempted to dance in my attempt to grab the ball before it went over the side and not fall over with it.

"I caught it!" I called from my position on the ground, nursing my bruised head. Somehow when I was chasing the ball I tripped over my shoe, caught the ball, and went flying into the torch pole.

Slowly standing, I grabbed onto the pole to pull myself up, deciding it was time to end this game before I got hurt again.

Reeling my arm back into the position I would normally hold it if I was going to shoot an arrow, I swung my arm, once…twice…three times and watched it fly at high speed to the opposite corner. I watched him as he made a dash for it, watched him as he dived for it, and watched him not catch it.

"I did it! I did it! Did you guys see that? I won!" I did a little happy dance, jumping up and down in a circle.

"Ayann, look out!" Gon shouted and I looked at him in confusion.

"You should have listened to your friend, little missy." A harsh voice infiltrated my senses; I began to feel lightheaded and wobbly. My legs felt weak, and my lungs burned. [1]

A blurry hand reached out towards my throat. _Why can't I see?_ It got closer and my knees got weaker.

I stepped back, and felt my stomach drop, my head spin. Distantly, I could hear someone's screams… wait, was that my voice?

"Ayann!"

* * *

_Tonpa you jerk! "I wanted to fight him," I mumbled to myself while Tonpa walked across the thin walkway to begin the first fight. "Tonpa you better not lose!"_

_He stood across from the bald man with scars on his head. I watched, and waited. What was going to happen?_

"_Let's decide how we're going to do this," The bald man says. Tonpa nods. "I say we have a death match."_

_I gasped. _

_Tonpa gulped. _

_Leorio paced. _

_Gon stared._

_Kurapica blinked._

_Killua yawned._

"_We fight until either one of us admits defeat or dies from his wounds, sound okay to you?"_

"_Do you guys think he'll be okay?" I asked my group._

_Kurapica was the one to answer me. "I don't know, we weren't expecting anything like this."_

_Tonpa accepted._

"_Is he insane?"_

"_You're brave, I respect that." The bald man said while walking forward, his pace slowly crawling into a steady full out sprint. His hands posed to strike Tonpa at full force, aimed for his throat._

_We watched with bated breath._

_Tonpa took two resolute steps backward and dropped to his knees. Slowly so that his actions wouldn't be misinterpreted, he touched his head to the ground, shouting, "I SURRENDER!"_

"_Wha…what?" The man stopped, his hand only inches from where Tonpa's throat would have been._

"_Did he…did he…did he just surrender?" I was confused. He didn't just surrender right? He was just faking right? The fight hadn't even started yet!_

"_I said I surrender." He lifted himself from the ground. "I guess you've beaten me… I never stood a chance." _

"_Tonpa, you idiot! You didn't even try!" I yelled._

* * *

'_Am I really going to go down without even putting up a fight?'_

My hand reached out trying to grab anything to stop my falling momentum. _Why was I falling again? _

I grabbed something, my arm jerked, I came to a stop.

"Oh yeah, he was going to hit me or something, and I stepped back?" I told myself. "Did I step over the edge? Really, how stupid can I get?"

'_No way am I going down without a fight!'_

Slowly I began to shimmy up whatever I had grabbed onto to stop my fall. It was pretty thin, and felt like metal, it kind of reminded me of Gon's fishing rod...but this was thicker than that, and longer.

Crumbling earth met my head and I tried to grab a hand hold of that, but found I didn't need to.

Below me was a staircase, a staircase that I could have used this whole time, a staircase that could have saved me a lot of trouble, a staircase that was going to find itself being yelled at soon.

I landed with a thud on the stone stairs and slowly began my trek upwards. The closer I got the more sounds I heard, mostly ones of my group screaming my name and Leorio swearing at Danaki.

A patch of light a few steps ahead of me…one step...three steps….five steps…there!

And somehow I'm on my back with a knife pressed to my throat. How?

"You thought you knew the truth, the truth to life, but if you did you wouldn't have died this way. You didn't know the truth, no, you knew the lie, the lie that everybody believes, but I knew the truth…and now you do to." Danaki said, pushing the knife harder against my skin. The piercing pain woke me up.

"The truth? What do you mean by that?"

* * *

_Kurapica stood over his fallen opponent, the one he knocked out. _

"_Did he really just knock him out with one punch?" I look at Leorio, shocked._

_He only nodded in reply, still staring straight ahead at Kurapica._

"_Remember these three things," Blondie began. "Number one, if you really were a part of the phantom troop your tattoo would include your member number, which it doesn't. Number two, they wouldn't bother to keep track of the people they've already murdered. Three, don't ever speak of the phantom troop again."_

* * *

"What truth do you mean? There are a lot of truths in this world, the truth about smiles, the truth about secrets, the truth about friendship, the truth about death, the truth –"

"Little missy," He cut me off, his blade pressing deeper into my already bleeding neck. "I don't care about any of those truths; I only care about the truth to life."

"But life and death are one of the same, aren't they?"

"No, not at all."

"Yes they are!" I exclaimed. "The truth to life is the same as death. Everyone has one shot at life so make it the best you can. Don't hold back because you only have one shot at it. Everyone dies at one point or another so just live life to the best of your ability and-" He pushed the blade deeper, cutting of my next words. I coughed, still attempting to speak, "-and have no regrets so when your time comes you don't wish for something you can never have."

He didn't answer, or move for that matter, so I took my chances with pushing the blade away from my throat and jumping away from him, rolling and bouncing back to my feet before he even had the chance to turn around. I think I managed to stun him with what I said, but still, i probably shouldn't, but…"Live life to the best of your ability remember; no regrets and no wishes." I smiled and made a dash for the thin walkway leading back to my team.

He cut me off, "Do you really think you're going to get away so easily?"

"No, but it never hurt to try." I gave in to my urge to stick my tongue out at him, "No regrets and no wishes~"

He lunged for me, his hands outstretched and reaching for my throat.

* * *

_Gon held the candle, watching as it continued to get smaller, and smaller and smaller. "Ow, hot! It burns!" Gon yells, "It's hot wax!"_

"_Gon," I scream, what is he going to do now? Are we really going to lose again…and on the second match too?_

_The short stump of a candle hit the ground after Gon let it drop, I held my breath… I think everybody else did too._

"_Oh no, what's going to happen now," I glanced at Killua, he actually looked interested in what was going on, for once._

"_What is he doing?" Leorio asked. _

_I looked back to the match just in time to see Gon blow out his opponent's candle…it was…it was…_

"_Gon, you're a genius!"_

* * *

He lunged for me, his hands outstretched and reaching for my throat.

I jumped away, tripping over the ball.

"Maybe…"

He lunged again.

The ball looked at me, as if mocking me. He wasn't going after the ball now was he?

"Maybe…" I grabbed the ball and rolled away again, this time towards my walkway.

He lunged again.

"Maybe…" I looked at the ball; then looked at him, his face pulled back in a sneer.

"Definitely," Smiling manically, I threw the ball hard towards his face. It was extremely satisfying to watch the ball bounce off his stunned face.

"No regrets and no worries!" I ran back across the walkway, looking at him over my shoulder, "I won!"

My team looked at me, and I smiled, "I won! Thanks you guys…if it wasn't for all your matches before mine I definitely would have lost."

They nodded – like they weren't even paying attention to me – "Well, we need one more point in order to win." Leorio said.

Why weren't they paying attention to me anymore? Just five minutes ago they were screaming my name in worry but now that I'm safe I don't get any congratulations for winning! How rude…

"It looks like I'm up next," Killua smirked, walking up towards the walkway to start his fight. "I was getting so bored of watching I almost fell asleep."

"Hey," I cried. "My match was not boring!"

He just sent me the "You're not fooling anybody" look.

"Bitter old man…"

A sputtering sound came from Leorio and I looked back at him, only to see him wallowing in his self pity, "If I had known Killua was going to be last I would have tried harder during _my_ match!"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

I snickered, "Serves you right…"

Killua glared and me and Leorio, the switched his gaze to my-self proclaimed twin, "Gon, these guys are really getting on my nerves!"

Faking a gasp I hugged Killua, "Oh how your words wound me! But don't you worry I will continue to get on your nerves – I mean, be your best friend who has a tendency to speak without thinking because that is what best friends are for." I smiled.

Leorio pulled me off said boy before he could respond, or more than likely glare, "Now is not the time for games Ayann," He looked at Killua, "If this match requires the use of a brain Killua doesn't stand a chance!"

Killua scowled, "I don't want to hear this from someone who just lost us forty-five hours in his last match, and yeah, I'll admit, I'd probably lose if I had to answer a bunch of math questions!"

"Don't worry about it," Gon and I said at the same time. Then he branched off and said, "Whatever match you have I'm sure you'll do fine."

What he should have said, and what I did say was, "Even if you lose I'll still be here to get on your nerves when you get back!"

He frowned.

"Clip-clack!' I looked across the way to see a tall, burly man. He had brown hair, a brown mustache, and was that a permanent frown on his face? If it wasn't for his huge muscles I might have thought he was sickly because of how the skin on his face was sunken in.

"Meet Jonas the Dissector," The voice from the table told us. Looks like it wasn't the table talking after all…

"Who is that?"

"J-Jonas!" Leorio shouted.

Staring across the way Killua asked, "Who's he?"

Leorio, still looking pretty freaked out said, "Killua, I don't think you should fight this guy."

"He's the worst mass murderer in the history of Zaban city." Tonpa told us.

"Really, how many has he killed?" Killua actually seemed interested in something…didn't think I'd see the day…

"They only have 146 confirmed victims, but authorities are assuming that there are more. It's hard to know for sure because he rips his victims into fifty different pieces or more and they have to piece them back together from parts found from all over the city. That's how he got his name, Jonas the Dissector." Kurapica explained.

_Jonas, he rips people into lots of different pieces and then scatters them around the city? _

"Hey Killua, I don't think you have anything to worry about…were not in the city so he can't scatter your remains! Oh, but then again, I don't think you should try to die either…I wouldn't have anyone to talk to besides Gon, Kurapica, Leorio, and possibly Tonpa. It'd get boring without my best friend." _Don't die Killua…please don't die._

He started to walk across the thin walkway.

Jonas was letting the dust from a chunk of rock he broke off from the wall flutter from his hand into the breeze. He too started to walk across the thin walkway.

"I've never seen hand strength like that," Killua commented almost approvingly.

"Hey Killua, where are you going?" Leorio cried. "It's okay to forfeit fright now… we can always take the exam again next year, nobody should be expected to fight against that guy!"

"Bitter old man…" I whispered, Kurapica's hand on my shoulder being the only thing holding me back from dragging Killua back to our side and then tying him to…to…something that would hold him!

"Don't try to stop me," Killua smirked, looking back at us from over his shoulder, "This is finally getting interesting…I can't wait to play."

"This isn't a game Killua!" Leorio's eyes narrowed and his face became grim.

"Leorio, just leave him alone…No regrets and no worries, remember?" I sent him a small smile. _Killua you better not die._

"It's pretty obvious that that guy isn't going to choose an intellectual match. He's just itching to get his hands bloody." Leorio protested, angry at the blatant disregard displayed towards Killua's situation.

While Gon was assuring him that it'd be fine, I settled for screaming: "Killua if you die I'll bring you back to life just to kill you myself!"

Killua stood in front of Jonas, his hands in his pockets and his back slouched back. He looked pretty relaxed if you asked me.

Jonas's hands clenched and he answered Killua previous question of what type of match were they going to have. "You're mistaken, this isn't going to be a match…it's going to be a one-sided murder."

I flinched.

Jonas continued, "I don't care about the exam or reducing my sentence…I just want to dig my hands into your flesh and hear your screams and cries of agony, it'll be music to my ears."

"So it'll be a death match then?" Killua confirmed, "Whoever dies loses?"

Kurapica and Leorio shouted their objections, Gon stayed silent, Tonpa looked surprised, and I…well I was playing with my stuffed pet mouse.

"Heh, get ready to –" Jonas's voice stopped abruptly and I looked up.

Killua held Jonas's still beating heart in his hand, the crimson blood dripping to the floor making soft pit – pat sounds on the ground. His lips were pulled back into a malicious grin, his eyes dark.

The front of Jonas's shirt began to flood with blood from the open wound in his chest, "G..gi..give it back…give it…" He repeated multiple times, reaching for his still beating heart.

Killua's hand began to tighten around the heart until it exploded and Jonas fell to the floor, dead.

"So we now have four wins and two losses," Killua put his still-bloody hands into his pockets. "Which means we win right?"

"Yeah," The bald man said, "Behind me is a small room, you guys will wait out the forty-five hours you lost in there."

I was the first to recover, "You won! We won! I knew we wouldn't lose just yet…definitely not so early in the exam, _Leorio._"

* * *

Finally done!

And in case any of you were wondering:

[1] The reason she was lightheaded was because she stopped breathing but hasn't yet realized it herself...but I guess it kind of saved her life, right?

Wow that chapter took forever, but thank you Frustratedfruitloop~ You helped me a lot on this chapter xD

Well review please, tell me how I did~


	11. Last Door

So for leaving this story hanging for so long, I'm still not quite sure if i want to finish it or not, sorry about that guys. I decided to at least post another chapter since I really have nothing better to do other than update my stories since my bestfriend dumped me as a friend the other day (there goes years on top of years down the drain -.-)

So yeah, thank you to all of you who reviewed and to everyone who was a constant reader of my story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter... If I did, well lets just say nobody would know what is cause its just that awesome to share... ;P

* * *

I"m thinking about rewriting this, what do you guys think? It's been about 2 years since I've worked on this story, so my writing style has probably changed a bit. So yeah, just read the chapter and let me know what you think.

* * *

**Chapter 11 **

The forty-five hours stuck in a room with Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio, and Tonpa were some of the most boring I've ever lived through. My fun filled bag had a hole in the bottom so all of my entertainment was left outside the room and I couldn't get to it! And the only things to do inside the room were stare a blank TV screen, and look at a little fake bird.

Kurapika spend his time reading some dictionary, and Leorio and Tonpa slept a good two-thirds of the time. Gon and Killua played rock, paper, scissors – but I lost of the first round so I just laid out and leant against Killua's back to sleep.

Yeah, that lasted a whole seven seconds before him and Gon found something else to do – leaving me sprawled out on the grounded where Killua dumped me.

By the time the forty-five hours were through I was just about ready to jump off a cliff to ease my boredom! So when the clock dinged and the door unlocked you could bet you're favorite candy that you would never let anyone touch that I was the first one out of that room! I bolted so fast that I was already dancing around in the hallway by the time everyone filled out the door.

"Come on old man!" I taunted Killua and his white hair. "What's taking you so long? Don't tell me you pulled a muscle or something."

Killua scowled and threw Kurapika's book at me. "Just cause I don't act like a hyperactive monkey does not make me an old man."

"Oh course it does, we're kids. We're supposed to be acting like hyperactive animals that jump off everything and everyone - that's just a way for us to find entertainment.

"Shut up," Leorio moaned, clutching his head. "Ayan, you're voice is giving me a headache, you haven't stopped talking for hours, just shut up for five minutes please..."

"I can't!" I yelled, dancing a victory dance inside my head because of his wince. "We need to move move move! We only have a couple hours left and we aren't even close to the bottom of this tower yet!"

Kurapika was everyone's saving grace, "Ayan is right, it'd be in our best interest to get moving now. Like she said, we only have a couple hours left, and we all know what happens if we don't make it to the bottom of this tower in the allotted time."

Gon and Killua then took the initiative to shout that we were just going to go whatever way we pleased and took off running. I took off after them a second later, laughing all the while at Leorio's pained face. He probably wanted to take a another nap.

"Left!"

"Right!"

"Right!"

"Left!"

"Right!"

Gon, Killua, and I took turns calling out what way we going to go, and in the end we got to a room full of weapons with two doors. A door with an X and a door with an O.

"Looks like we're finally here, the last door." Killua mused.

"Yeah, but what're the rules." I muttered, looking at each of the doors. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

Just then a voice filtered in from above us, from all around us... actually I can't tell where it filtered in from. But the voice was telling us the rules, "I'm glad you could make it to this final door. Again this is a majority rules vote. O is a long path that will you to the finish. X is a short path, but only four of you may partake. If you so choose the X, shorter path the door will not open until two of you are chained to the wall. They must stay there until the time is up."

"Well of course I'm choosing O then!" Leorio shouted.

The voice spoke again, drawling out his worlds. "Oh and I must tell you. The long path will take at least forty-five hours to complete. The short path will take about three minuets."

Leorio was the first to speak, "I gotta say, I'm going to choose X, and I'm not getting chained to any wall either." He gestured towards the weapons lining the walls. "This examiner though of just about everything. There are weapons here to suit almost everyone in the world. It's too bad that we were placed in here together. I do consider you guys as friends," He paused and glanced at Tonpa, "Well everyone but you anyway. Im sorry it's come to this, but I came here to get a Hunters License, not make friends."

"Leorio..." Kurapika muttered. Probably upset that his friend was willing to discard their newly formed friendship.

"Well I'm pressing O." Gon said. Determined. "We've already come this far together, I think we should stick together right until the very end. I know we only have a small chance of taking it, but it's a chance I'm willing to take."

There were a few muffled agreements from Kurapika and Leorio, but I stayed silent as did Tonpa. Killua was the one to try and talk logic to the optimistic boy.

"Gon, get serious. We have less than one hour left now. It's impossible to make a forty-five hour journey in less than one. We don't have any choice, we obviously have to take the shorter path. The only question left is how to decide who gets to move on and who has to stay." Killua said. "And I don't have any intention of giving up now."

"Unless someone willingly stays behind, we're going to have to fight each other." There would be holes in the ground if my eyes had any type of beam sprouting from them, I have yet to look up from the two stone tiles on the ground. "That's what you're trying to say isn't it?"

I finally raised my head to find everyone staring at me. "What, you were all thinking it. Who'd be the easiest to pick off, who doesn't deserve to go, who is forming a pair with who?" I shook my head, my cyan colored hair falling from my hood. "If we went by who each other the longest then obviously the four who should move on is Leorio, Gon, Kurapika, and Killua, ne. That leaves Tonpa and I here, so we can try again next year.

"If we went by who would form pairs then theres Gon and Killua who would pair together. Gon wouldn't have the heart to fight his best friend, nor his other friends, Kurapika or Leorio, however Killua wouldn't have any issue picking anybody off who got in his way. Kurapika and Leorio would be the other pair, as they are closer to each other than they are with either me or Tonpa. And neither of them would have the heart to fight Gon, so that again leaves Tonpa and I as the one's chained to the wall.

"If we went by who deserves to go on, well… That would be hard to decide because everyone here thinks that their reason is the best. Well, besides Tonpa maybe. And If we went by who would be the easiest to pick off, well I can imagine who you all think it's be. It's not Killua, that's for sure. He can puck our heart from our chest before we can even blink, so nobody would provoke him. Gon, as naive as he is, isn't a weakling, and we all know it. Kurapika, as he's proven isn't a pushover, and his goal would be enough to push him towards success. Leorio, I'm actually not quite sure how he fights, but given the fact that he's a grown man, he's stronger than me, although I'm not quiet sure how he'd fair against Tonpa. Tonpa himself, we'll he's… He's Tonpa, so everyone here has some type of grudge against him.

"I'm obviously one of the weaker ones here… However, If any of you think I'm staying here chained to some wall, then you'll be in for some disappointment. I may not be stronger than you, but I can bet that I'm a more accustomed to fighting in these circumstances, and I wont lose. With that said. I'll choose whatever the majority is picking."

I took a moment to glare at each and every one of them, making sure to get my point across, that I refuse to stay here chained to some wall.

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**End... Cliffhanger... kinda :)**

**Read and Review, please. Sorry if I got anything wrong based off previous chapters, I haven't worked on this story in over two years, so I'm a little rusty on what's been said already and what hasn't. **

**Rainbowlalaland out~**


	12. Authors Note

Hey guys sorry to say this, but I've pretty much given up hope of continuing this fic. I may change my mind but I'm not sure. I think I'm putting it up for adoption, so let me know if you'd like to adopt it and we can discuss it.


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